''Volutoconus'' is a small taxonomic

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of four rare

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), ...

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, medium-sized

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 ...

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 family

Volutidae Volutidae, common name volutes, are a taxonomic family of predatory sea snails that range in size from 9 mm to over 500 mm. They are marine gastropod mollusks. Most of the species have no operculum. Distribution This family of sea s ...

Distribution

''Volutoconus'' species live in tropical and subtropical waters. All four species in the genus live in

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 ...

, and the range of one species, ''Volutoconus bednalli'', extends to

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. ''Volutoconus'' snails live in coarse sand and rubble from the shallow subtidal zone to over 200 m depth.

Shell description

The shells of ''Volutoconus'' species have a bluntly rounded

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 " ...

with a small sharp projection called a calcarella. They are solid, glossy, cylindrical-shaped shells with an elongate aperture that has four distinct

columella Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (, Arabic: ) was a prominent Roman writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire. His in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture and ancient Roman cuisin ...

r plicae. ''Volutoconus coniformis'', ''V. grossi'' and ''V. hargreavesi'' are reddish-brown in color, and ''V. bednalli'' is yellow with reticulate blue-black bands. ''Volutoconus grossi'' form ''mcmichaeli'' and ''Volutoconus hargreavesi'' form ''daiseyae'' have distinct axial ribs.

Notes

''Volutoconus'' are uncommonly found alive. They are sometimes accidentally caught by fishermen as bycatch on prawn or scallop trawlers. These volutes are

nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

and have a small foot compared to many other volutes. The foot, head, propodium, eyes and siphon of ''Volutoconus hargreavesi'' and ''Volutoconus grossi'' have a similar color pattern to that of the shell.

References

* ''Australian marine shells 2'', Wilson B., Odyssey Publishing, Kallaroo, Western Australia 1994, {{Taxonbar, from=Q7941124 Volutidae Gastropod genera