Conus (Dauciconus)

Conus (Dauciconus)
Apertural view of shell of Dauciconus virgatus (Reeve, 1849)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Order: Neogastropoda
Family: Conidae
Genus: Conus
Subgenus: Dauciconus
Cotton, 1945
Type species
Conus daucus
Hwass in Bruguière, 1792
Synonyms
  • Cariboconus Petuch, 2003
  • Conasprelloides Tucker & Tenorio, 2009
  • Dauciconus Cotton, 1945
  • Gradiconus da Motta, 1991
  • Magelliconus da Motta,1991
  • Poremskiconus Petuch, 2013
  • Purpuriconus da Motta, 1991
  • Tuckericonus Petuch 2013

Dauciconus is a subgenus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the genus Conus, family Conidae, the cone snails and their allies.

In the new classification of the family Conidae by Puillandre N., Duda T.F., Meyer C., Olivera B.M. & Bouchet P. (2015), Dauciconus has become a subgenus of Conus: Conus (Dauciconus) Tucker & Tenorio, 2013 represented as Conus Linnaeus, 1758

Distinguishing characteristics

The Tucker & Tenorio 2009 taxonomy distinguishes Dauciconus from Conus in the following ways:

Shell characters (living and fossil species)
The basic shell shape is conical to elongated conical, has a deep anal notch on the shoulder, a smooth periostracum and a small operculum. The shoulder of the shell is usually nodulose and the protoconch is usually multispiral. Markings often include the presence of tents except for black or white color variants, with the absence of spiral lines of minute tents and textile bars.
Radular tooth (not known for fossil species)
The radula has an elongated anterior section with serrations and a large exposed terminating cusp, a non-obvious waist, blade is either small or absent and has a short barb, and lacks a basal spur.
Geographical distribution
These species are found in the Indo-Pacific region.
Feeding habits
These species eat other gastropods including cones.
Shell characters (living and fossil species)
The shell is conical to elongate conical in shape. The protoconch is multispiral with 2.5 whorls, and the whorl tops are often concave and nodules usually do not persist on later whorls. The anal notch is deep to moderately deep. The periostracum is tufted, and the operculum is small to medium sized.
Radular tooth (not known for fossil species)
The anterior section of the radula is roughly equal to the posterior section. The blade is fairly long and covers at least half the length of the anterior section of the radular tooth. A basal spur is present, and the barb is short. The radular tooth has serrations and the terminating cusp is internal.
Geographical distribution
These species are found in the West Atlantic and Eastern Pacific regions.
Feeding habits
These species are presumed to be vermivorous (meaning that they prey on marine worms) based upon the aspect of the radular tooth.

Species list

The following species names are recognized as "alternate representations" (see full explanation below) in contrast to the traditional system, which uses the genus Conus for all species in the family:

References

  1. 1 2 Dauciconus Cotton, 1945. Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 07/13/11.
  2. ↑ Puillandre N., Duda T.F., Meyer C., Olivera B.M. & Bouchet P. (2015). One, four or 100 genera? A new classification of the cone snails. Journal of Molluscan Studies. 81: 1-23
  3. 1 2 3 Tucker J.K. & Tenorio M.J. (2009), Systematic Classification of Recent and Fossil Conoidean Gastropods, ConchBooks, Hankenheim, Germany, 295 pp.
  4. ↑ Petuch E.J. & Sargent D.M. (2011) New species of Conidae and Conilithidae (Gastropoda) from the tropical Americas and Philippines. With notes on some poorly-known Floridian species. Visaya 3(3): 37-58, at p. 40.

Further reading