''Conus'' (''Austroconus'') is a

taxon In biology, a taxon ( back-formation from '' taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular n ...

of sea snails,

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

gastropod

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is es ...

s in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Conidae Conidae, with the current common name of " cone snails", is a taxonomic family (previously subfamily) of predatory sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Conoidea. The 2014 classification of the superfamily Conoidea, group ...

. Although formerly described as a distinct

subgenus In biology, a subgenus (plural: subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed betw ...

, it is currently considered as an alternative representation of the cone snail genus, ''

Conus ''Conus'' is a genus of predatory sea snails, or cone snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Conidae.Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S. (2015). Conus Linnaeus, 1758. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species ...

''.

Distinguishing characteristics

The Tucker & Tenorio 2009 taxonomy distinguishes ''Austroconus'' from ''Conus'' in the following ways:Tucker J.K. & Tenorio M.J. (2009), Systematic Classification of Recent and Fossil Conoidean Gastropods, ConchBooks, Hankenheim, Germany, 295 pp. * Genus ''Conus'' ''

sensu stricto ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular c ...

'' Linnaeus, 1758 :: 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 The periostracum ( ) is a thin, organic coating (or "skin") that is the outermost layer of the shell of many shelled animals, including molluscs and brachiopods. Among molluscs, it is primarily seen in snails and clams, i.e. in gastropods a ...

and a small operculum. The shoulder of the shell is usually nodulose and the

protoconch A protoconch (meaning first or earliest or original shell) is an embryonic or larval shell which occurs in some classes of molluscs, e.g., the initial chamber of an ammonite or the larval shell of a gastropod. In older texts it is also calle ...

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 The radula (, ; plural radulae or radulas) is an anatomical structure used by molluscs for feeding, sometimes compared to a tongue. It is a minutely toothed, chitinous ribbon, which is typically used for scraping or cutting food before the food ...

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 The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

region. ::Feeding habits :::These species eat other gastropods including

cones A cone is a three-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a flat base (frequently, though not necessarily, circular) to a point called the apex or vertex. A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines, or lines co ...

. * Genus ''Austroconus'' Tucker & Tenorio, 2009 ::Shell characters (living and fossil species) :::The

is paucispiral with 1.5 whorls, the shoulder is carinate, the body whorl is sulcate, the whorl tops have cords, there are no nodules on the body and no dentiform plait. The shell has an anterior notch which is usually conspicuous and well developed, and a shallow anal notch. The

is smooth, and the operculum is small. ::Radular tooth (not known for fossil species) :::The anterior section of the

is usually shorter than posterior section. The blade is moderately long and covers at least one-half the length of the anterior section of the radular tooth. A basal spur is present, the barb is short. Serrations usually occur in just one or two rows. ::Geographical distribution :::These species are endemic to Australia. ::Feeding habits :::These species are presumed to be vermivorous (meaning that they prey on marine worms) bases on the aspect of the radular tooth.

Species

Prior to 2009, all species within the family

were placed in one genus, ''

''. In 2009 however, J.K. Tucker and M.J. Tenorio proposed a classification system for the over 600 recognized

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

that were in the family. Their classification proposed 3 distinct families and 82 genera for the living species of

cone snails A cone is a three-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a flat base (frequently, though not necessarily, circular) to a point called the apex or vertex. A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines, or lines ...

. This classification was based upon

shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard o ...

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

r differences,

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...

physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemic ...

cladistics Cladistics (; ) is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups (" clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is typically shared derived ch ...

, with comparisons to molecular (DNA) studies. Published accounts of genera within the

that include the genus ''Austroconus'' include J.K. Tucker & M.J. Tenorio (2009), and Bouchet et al. (2011). Testing in order to try to understand the

molecular phylogeny Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

of the

was initially begun by Christopher Meyer and Alan Kohn, and is continuing, particularly with the advent of nuclear DNA testing in addition to mDNA testing. Many authorities continue to use the traditional classification, where all species are placed in ''

'' within the single family

including the current (October 2022) version of the

World Register of Marine Species The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive list of names of marine organisms. Content The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scientific speciali ...

. The binomial names of species in the 82 cone snail genera listed in Tucker & Tenorio 2009 are recognized by the

as "alternative representations." Debate within the scientific community regarding this issue continues, and additional

studies are being carried out in an attempt to clarify the issue.B. Vallejo, Jr. (2005), ''Inferring the mode of speciation in the Indo-West Pacific Conus (Gastropoda: Conidae)'', Journal of Biogeography 32:1429-1439. In 2015, in the ''Journal of Molluscan Studies'', Puillandre, Duda, Meyer, Olivera & Bouchet presented a new classification for the old genus ''Conus''. Using 329 species, the authors carried out molecular phylogenetic analyses. The results suggested that the authors should place all cone snails in a single family, Conidae, containing four genera: ''Conus'', ''

Conasprella ''Conasprella'' is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Conidae, the cone snails and their allies.Bouchet, P. (2015). Conasprella. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/ap ...

'', ''

Profundiconus ''Profundiconus'' is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Conidae, the cone snails and their allies.Bouchet, P. (2011). ''Profundiconus'' Kuroda, 1956. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www ...

'' and ''

Californiconus ''Californiconus'' is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks. The experts at WoRMS place this group of species in the family Conidae, the cone snails, but some other experts placed previously the genus in a proposed family, the Coni ...

''. The authors group 85% of all known cone snail species under ''Conus'', They recognize 57 subgenera within ''Conus'', and 11 subgenera within the genus ''Conasprella''. 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
/ref> The three species formerly classified in the genus ''Africonus'' are now considered as "alternate representations" of species in the genus ''

'':: * ''Austroconus clarus'' (E.A. Smith, 1881) is represented as ''

Conus clarus ''Conus clarus'', common name the glossy cone, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Conidae, the cone snails and their allies. Like all species within the genus ''Conus'', these snails are predatory and venomo ...

'' E. A. Smith, 1881 * ''Austroconus cyanostoma'' (A. Adams, 1855) is represented as ''

Conus cyanostoma ''Conus cyanostoma'' is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Conidae, the cone snails A cone is a three-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a flat base (frequently, though not necessarily, ...

'' A. Adams, 1855 * ''Austroconus sydneyensis'' (G.B. Sowerby III, 1887) is represented as ''

Conus sydneyensis ''Conus sydneyensis'' is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family (biology), family Conidae, the Conus, cone snails and their allies. Like all species within the genus ''Conus'', these snails are predatory and venomous. ...

'' G. B. Sowerby III, 1887

References

External links

*
To World Register of Marine Species

Gastropods.com: ''Conidae'' setting forth the genera recognized therein.Cone Shells - Knights of the Sea
{{Taxonbar, from=Q4825618 Conidae Gastropod subgenera

Distinguishing characteristics

Species

References

Further reading

External links