''Plicaustraconus'' 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 ''Conus'', family Conidae, the cone snails and their allies.Bouchet, P. (2011). ''Plicaustraconus'' Moolenbeek, 2008. Accessed through:

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 ...

at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=578304 on 2012-01-21 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 ''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 ...

'' Linnaeus, 1758 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 ''Monteiroconus'' 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 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 ''Plicaustraconus'' Moolenbeek, 2008 ::Shell characters (living and fossil species) :::The shell is obconic in shape with broad shoulders. The

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

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

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

n regions. ::Feeding habits :::These cone snails are presumed vermivorous, meaning that the cones prey on

polychaete Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine Annelid, annelid worms, common name, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called c ...

worms, based upon the radular tooth morphology.

Species list

This list of species is based on the information in the

(

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 ''Plicaustraconus'' include: * ''Plicaustraconus advertex'' (Garrard, 1961): synonym of ''

Conus advertex ''Conus advertex'' is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Conidae, the cone snails, cone shells or cones.Bouchet, P. (2011). ''Conus advertex'' (Garrard, 1961). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at ...

'' (Garrard, 1961) * ''Plicaustraconus angasi'' (Tryon, 1884): synonym of ''

Conus angasi ''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 ...

'' Tryon, 1884 * ''Plicaustraconus baeri'' (Röckel & Korn, 1992): synonym of ''Conus (Plicaustraconus) baeri'' Röckel & Korn, 1992 represented as '' Conus baeri'' Röckel & Korn, 1992 * ''Plicaustraconus bonfigliolii'' (Bozzetti, 2010): synonym of '' Conus bonfigliolii'' (Bozzetti, 2010) * ''Plicaustraconus felix'' (Fenzan, 2012): synonym of ''Conus (Plicaustraconus) felix'' Fenzan, 2012 represented as ''

Conus felix ''Conus felix'' is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Conidae, the cone snails, cone shells or cones.Bouchet, P. (2015). Conus felix. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at h ...

'' Fenzan, 2012 * ''Plicaustraconus lozeti'' (Richard, 1980): synonym of Conus lozeti Richard, 1980 * ''Plicaustraconus trigonus'' (Reeve, 1848): synonym of '' Conus trigonus'' Reeve, 1848 * ''Plicaustraconus visagenus'' (Kilburn, 1974): synonym of '' Conus visagenus'' Kilburn, 1974 * ''Plicaustraconus wallangra'' (Garrard, 1961): synonym of '' Conus wallangra'' (Garrard, 1961)

References

External links

To World Register of Marine Species

Gastropods.com: ''Conidae'' setting forth the genera recognized therein.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7204960 Conidae Gastropod subgenera

Distinguishing characteristics

Species list

References

Further reading

External links