''Kohniconus'' is a

subgenus In biology, a subgenus ( 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 between the ge ...

sea snail Sea snails are slow-moving marine (ocean), marine gastropod Mollusca, molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the Taxonomic classification, taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguishe ...

s, marine

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

mollusk Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The ...

s in the genus ''

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

'',

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Conilithidae Cone snails, or cones, are highly venomous sea snails that constitute the family Conidae. ''Conidae'' is a taxonomic family (previously subfamily) of predatory marine gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Conoidea. The 2014 classification of t ...

, the cone snails and their allies.Bouchet, P. (2015). Kohniconus Tucker & Tenorio, 2009. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=571643 on 2015-03-17 This subgenus was named in honor of Alan J. Kohn, the cone shell authority.Tucker J.K. & Tenorio M.J. (2009), Systematic Classification of Recent and Fossil Conoidean Gastropods, ConchBooks, Hankenheim, Germany, 295 pp. In the new classification of the family Conidae by Puillandre N., Duda T.F., Meyer C., Olivera B.M. & Bouchet P. (2015), ''Kohniconus'' has become a subgenus of ''Conasprella'': ''Conasprella (Kohniconus)'' Tucker & Tenorio, 2009 represented as ''

'' Thiele, 1929 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
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Distinguishing characteristics

The Tucker & Tenorio 2009 taxonomy distinguishes ''Kohniconus'' from ''Conus'' in the following ways: * 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 an ...

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 called " ...

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 (; : radulae or radulas) is an anatomical structure used by mollusks 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 enters ...

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

s including

cones In geometry, a cone is a three-dimensional figure that tapers smoothly from a flat base (typically a circle) to a point not contained in the base, called the ''apex'' or '' vertex''. A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines, ...

. * Subgenus ''Kohniconus'' Tucker & Tenorio, 2009 ::Shell characters (living and fossil species) :::The shell is turbinate in shape. The

is multispiral. The shell is ornamented with cords and nodules which may persist or become obsolete. The anal notch is deep. The

is smooth, and the operculum is large. ::Radular tooth (not known for fossil species) :::The anterior section of the radular tooth is much shorter than the posterior section, and a short blade is present. A basal spur is present, and the barb is short. The shaft fold is blunt at the anterior end. ::Geographical distribution :::The species in this genus occur in the

West Atlantic West Atlantic is a holding company for two European cargo airlines, West Air Sweden and West Atlantic UK, with its head office in Malmö, Sweden. West Atlantic employ some 650 staff and operate a fleet of 19 aircraft. The airline specializes i ...

and

Eastern Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

regions. ::Feeding habits :::The species in this genus are vermivorous (meaning that these snails prey on marine worms).

Species list

This list of species is based on the information in 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 catalogue and list of names of marine organisms. Content The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...

(

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

) list. Species within the genus ''Kohniconus'' include: * ''Kohniconus arcuatus'' (Broderip & G.B. Sowerby I, 1829): synonym of '' Conasprella arcuata''( Broderip & G. B. Sowerby I, 1829) (alternate representation) * ''Kohniconus centurio'' (Born, 1778): synonym of '' Conasprella centurio'' (Born, 1778) (alternate representation) * ''Kohniconus delessertii'' (Récluz, 1843): synonym of '' Conasprella delessertii'' Récluz, 1843 (alternate representation) * ''Kohniconus emarginatus'' (Reeve, 1844): synonym of '' Conasprella emarginata'' Reeve, 1844 (alternate representation) * ''Kohniconus fenzani'' (Petuch & Sargent, 2011) synonym of '' Conasprella fenzani'' (alternate representation) * ''Kohniconus janowskyae'' Tucker & Tenorio, 2011 synonym of '' Conasprella janowskyae'' (alternate representation) * ''Kohniconus kohni'' (McLean & Nybakken, 1979): synonym of '' Conasprella kohni'' McLean & Nybakken, 1979 (alternate representation) * ''Kohniconus rachelae'' (Petuch, 1988): synonym of '' Conasprella rachelae'' Petuch, 1988 (alternate representation) * ''Kohniconus scariphus'' (Dall, 1910)= synonym of '' Conasprella scaripha'' Dall, 1910 (alternate representation)

Significance of "alternative representation"

Prior to 2009, all

cone In geometry, a cone is a three-dimensional figure that tapers smoothly from a flat base (typically a circle) to a point not contained in the base, called the '' apex'' or '' vertex''. A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines ...

species were placed within the family Conidae and were placed in one genus, ''

Conus ''Conus'' is a genus of venomous and predatory cone snails.Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S. (2015). Conus Linnaeus, 1758. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&i ...

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

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

that were in the family. Their classification proposed 3 distinct families and 82 genera for the living species of cone snails, including the family Conilithidae. 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 Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

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 morphology concerned with the study of the internal 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 scien ...

physiology Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...

cladistics Cladistics ( ; from Ancient Greek 'branch') is an approach to Taxonomy (biology), biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups ("clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesiz ...

, with comparisons to molecular (DNA) studies. Published accounts of genera within the Conidae (or Conilithidae) that include the genus ''Kohniconus'' 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 Conidae 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. However, in 2011, some experts still use the traditional classification, where all species are placed in ''Conus'' within the single family Conidae: for example, according to the current November 2011 version of the

, all species within the family Conidae are in the genus ''Conus''. 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 continues, and additional

studies are being carried out in an attempt to clarify the issue.Petuch & Drolshage (2011) ''Compendium of Florida Fossil Shells, Volume 1'' MDM Publications, Wellington, FL., 432 pp. All this has been superseded in 2015 by the new classification of the Conidae

References

* Tucker J.K. & Tenorio M.J. (2009) ''Systematic classification of Recent and fossil conoidean gastropods''. Hackenheim: Conchbooks. 296 pp.

External links

Gastropods.com: ''Conidae'' setting forth the genera recognized therein.

Gastropods.com: ''Conilithidae'' setting forth the genera recognized therein.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q6426112 Conidae Gastropod subgenera

Distinguishing characteristics

Species list

Significance of "alternative representation"

References

Further reading

External links