Conuber conicum

Conuber conicum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Littorinimorpha
Family:	Naticidae
Genus:	Conuber
Species:	C. conicum
Binomial name
Conuber conicum (Lamarck, 1822)
Synonyms
Natica conica Lamarck, 1822 Natica pyramis Reeve, 1855 Natica tasmanica Tenison Woods, 1876 Natica ustulata G. B. Sowerby II, 1883 Polinices conicus (Lamarck, 1822) Sigaretus acuminatus A. Adams & Reeve, 1850

Conuber conicum, the conical moon snail, is a species of predatory sea snail, in the family Naticidae, the moon snails. It was first described in 1822 as Natica conica by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck.

Description

The length of the shell attains 10 mm, its diameter 6 mm.

(Described as Natica tasmanica) The shell has a somewhat covered umbilicus. It is depressedly orbicular, thick, with a short but slightly exsert spire. The whorls are convex, rounded, smooth, or obliquely thickly and most minutely striate. The aperture is semilunar and horizontal. The columella is somewhat thin, with a prominent callosity, which is spirally sulcate. The umbilicus is angularly excavate; with a kind of callosity within the suture at the aperture. The shell is pale fulvous or whitish, banded with brownish or orange lines. The base of the shell is white, chestnut or fulvous within.

Distribution

This species is endemic to Australia (New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia). It is a carnivorous marine snail found on intertidal sand flats, all around Australia. It feeds on small bivalves.

References

• Hedley, C. 1916. A preliminary index of the Mollusca of Western Australia. Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Western Australia 1: 152-226
• Iredale, T. & McMichael, D.F. 1962. A reference list of the marine Mollusca of New South Wales. Memoirs of the Australian Museum 11: 1–109
• Murray, F.V. 1963. Notes on the spawn and early life history of two species of Conuber Finlay & Marwick, 1937 (Naticidae). Journal of the Malacological Society of Australasia 1(6): 49-58
• Macpherson, J.H. 1966. Port Phillip Survey 1957–1963. Memoirs of the National Museum of Victoria, Melbourne 27: 201–288
• Coleman, N. 1975. What Shell is That? Sydney : Lansdowne Press 298 pp.
• Wells, F.E. & Bryce, C.W. 1986. Seashells of Western Australia. Perth : Western Australian Museum 207 pp.
• Wilson, B. 1993. Australian Marine Shells. Prosobranch Gastropods. Kallaroo, Western Australia : Odyssey Publishing Vol. 1 408 pp.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Conuber conicum.

• Conuber conicum images & occurrence data from GBIF
• Conuber conicum images at iNaturalist
• Adams, A. & Reeve, L. A. (1848-1850). Mollusca. In A. Adams (ed.), The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Samarang, under the command of Captain Sir Edward Belcher, C.B., F.R.A.S., F.G.S., during the years 1843-1846. Reeve & Benham, London, x + 87 pp., 24 pls
• Reeve, L. A. (1855). Monograph of the genus Natica. In: Conchologia Iconica, or, illustrations of the shells of molluscous animals, vol. 9, pls 1-30, and unpaginated text. L. Reeve & Co., London
• https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16085066
• Torigoe K. & Inaba A. (2011). Revision on the classification of Recent Naticidae. Bulletin of the Nishinomiya Shell Museum. 7: 133 + 15 pp., 4 pls
• Huelsken T., Tapken D., Dahlmann T., Wägele H., Riginos C. & Hollmann M. (2012) Systematics and phylogenetic species delimitation within Polinices s.l. (Caenogastropoda: Naticidae) based on molecular data and shell morphology. Organisms, Diversity & Evolution 12: 349-375
• Beechey, D. 2000. Conuber conicum (Lamarck, 1822). The seashells of New South Wales website.