Conus pulcher

Conus pulcher, common name the butterfly cone, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Conidae, the cone snails and their allies.[2]

Conus pulcher
A shell of Conus pulcher
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Order: Neogastropoda
Superfamily: Conoidea
Family: Conidae
Genus: Conus
Species:
C. pulcher
Binomial name
Conus pulcher
[Lightfoot], 1786 [1]
Synonyms[2]
  • Conus (Kalloconus) pulcher [Lightfoot], 1786 accepted, alternate representation
  • Conus archithalassius Link, 1807
  • Conus bicolor G. B. Sowerby I, 1833 (May) (invalid: junior homonym of Conus bicolor G.B. Sowerby I, 1833 [March])
  • Conus breviculus G. B. Sowerby II, 1833
  • Conus fluctifer Dillwyn, 1817
  • Conus grandis G. B. Sowerby I, 1823
  • Conus leoninus Gmelin, 1791 (invalid: junior homonym of Conus leoninus [Lightfoot], 1786)
  • Conus nicolii Wilson, 1831
  • Conus papilionaceus Hwass in Bruguière, 1792
  • Conus papillaris G. B. Sowerby I, 1833
  • Conus prometheus Hwass in Bruguière, 1792
  • Conus pulcher pulcher [Lightfoot], 1786
  • Cucullus achatinus Röding, 1798 (nomen dubium)
  • Cucullus indiae Röding, 1798
  • Kalloconus pulcher ([Lightfoot], 1786)
  • Kalloconus pulcher pulcher ([Lightfoot], 1786)

Like all species within the genus Conus, these snails are predatory and venomous. They are capable of "stinging" humans, therefore live ones should be handled carefully or not at all.

There is one subspecies : Conus pulcher siamensis Hwass in Bruguière, 1792

A Shell of albinistic and of regular colour, both with periostracum.

According to Bernard, experts do not agree on the identity of this cone and therefore it seemed better to separate it into two varieties, according to their habitat. Bernard thus mentions two Conus pulcher varieties: C. pulcher f. papilionaceus (Lightfoot, 1786) and C. pulcher f. prometheus (Lightfoot, 1786)

Description

The size of the shell varies between 40 mm and 260 mm. This is the largest of the cone snails. The shell is narrow and rather thin. It is longitudinally finally striate. The acuminate spire is sulcate. The color of the shell is variable white to cream, variegated with numerous lines of short dashes and spots of light to darker chestnut.[3]

Distribution

This species occurs in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean off (Guinea, Senegal, Angola)

References

  1. Lightfoot, J., 1786. A Catalogue of the Portland Museum, Lately the Property of the Duchess Dowager of Portland, Deceased; Which will be sold by Auction
  2. Conus pulcher [Lightfoot, 1786]. Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 27 March 2010.
  3. G.W. Tryon (1884) Manual of Conchology, structural and systematic, with illustrations of the species, vol. VI; Philadelphia, Academy of Natural Sciences
  • The Conus Biodiversity website
  • Cone Shells – Knights of the Sea
  • "Kalloconus pulcher pulcher". Gastropods.com. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
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