''Pygmaeconus visseri'' is a species of
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 ...
, a 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 ...
in the family
Conidae, the
cone snails and their allies.
[MolluscaBase (2018). Pygmaeconus visseri (Delsaerdt, 1990). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=986850 on 2018-02-11] The species is named for J. S. de Visser, who originally collected the specimen.
Like all species within the genus ''Conus'', these snails are
predatory
Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill ...
and
venomous
Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...
. They are capable of
stinging
Sting may refer to:
* Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger
* Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself
Fictional characters and entities
* Sting (Middle-ear ...
humans, therefore live ones should be handled carefully or not at all.
Description
Like other members of ''
Pygmaeconus,'' the shell is less than 10mm in size and rounded. However, the shell of ''P. visseri'' has indented grooves on its
body whorl
The body whorl is part of the morphology (biology), morphology of the gastropod shell, shell in those gastropod mollusks that possess a coiled shell. The term is also sometimes used in a similar way to describe the shell of a cephalopod mollusk ...
instead of the raised ribs that are common to the rest of its genus.
Distribution
This marine species was found off
Phuket Island
Phuket (; , , or ''Tongkah'') is one of the southern provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, the country's largest island, and another 32 smaller islands off its coast. Phuket lies off the west coast of m ...
, Thailand.
References
*
* Filmer R.M. (2001). ''A Catalogue of Nomenclature and Taxonomy in the Living Conidae 1758 - 1998''. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden. 388pp
External links
The ''Conus'' Biodiversity website*
Puillandre N. & Tenorio M.J. (2017). ''A question of rank: DNA sequences and radula characters reveal a new genus of cone snails (Gastropoda: Conidae).'' Journal of Molluscan Studies. 83(2): 200–210*
visseri
Gastropods described in 1990
{{Conidae-stub