Plicaustraconus

Plicaustraconus
Apertural and abapertural views of shell of Conus advertex (Garrard, T.A., 1961)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Caenogastropoda
clade Hypsogastropoda
clade Neogastropoda
Superfamily: Conoidea
Family: Conidae
Genus: Conus
Subgenus: Plicaustraconus
Moolenbeek, 2008
Type species
Conus advertex (Garrard, 1961)
Synonyms

Conus (Plicaustraconus) Moolenbeek, 2008

Plicaustraconus is a subgenus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the genus Conus, family Conidae, the cone snails and their allies.[1]

In the latest classification of the family Conidae by Puillandre N., Duda T.F., Meyer C., Olivera B.M. & Bouchet P. (2015), Plicaustraconus has become a subgenus of Conus as Conus (Plicaustraconus) Moolenbeek, 2008 (type species:Conus advertex (Garrard, 1961)) represented as Conus Linnaeus, 1758 [2]

Distinguishing characteristics

The Tucker & Tenorio 2009 taxonomy distinguishes Monteiroconus from Conus in the following ways:[3]

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.[3]
Shell characters (living and fossil species)
The shell is obconic in shape with broad shoulders. The protoconch is paucispiral. The whorl tops have cords, and there is a well developed dentiform plait. The anal notch is shallow to relatively deep, and an anterior notch is absent. The periostracum is smooth, and the operculum is large.
Radular tooth (not known for fossil species)
The anterior section of the radular tooth is shorter than the posterior section, and the blade covers between one-third and two-thirds of the length of the anterior section. A basal spur is present, and the barb is short. There are one or two rows of serrations.
Geographical distribution
The species in this genus occur in the Australian and South African regions.
Feeding habits
These cone snails are presumed vermivorous, meaning that the cones prey on polychaete worms, based upon the radular tooth morphology.[3]

Species list

This list of species is based on the information in the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) list. Species within the genus Plicaustraconus include:[1]

References

  1. 1 2 Bouchet, P. (2011). Plicaustraconus Moolenbeek, 2008. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=578304 on 2012-01-21
  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.

Further reading

External identifiers for Plicaustraconus
WoRMS 578304
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 1/18/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.