Conus villepinii

Conus villepinii, common name Villepin's cone is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Conidae, the cone snails and their allies.[1]

Conus villepinii
Apertural and abapertural views of shell of Conus villepinii Fischer, P. & A.C. Bernardi, 1857
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Order: Neogastropoda
Superfamily: Conoidea
Family: Conidae
Genus: Conus
Species:
C. villepinii
Binomial name
Conus villepinii
Fischer & Bernardi, 1857
Synonyms[1]
  • Conasprelloides villepinii (P. Fischer & Bernardi, 1857)
  • Conasprelloides villepinii fosteri (Clench, 1942)
  • Conasprelloides villepinii villepinii (P. Fischer & Bernardi, 1857)
  • Conus (Dauciconus) villepinii P. Fischer & Bernardi, 1857 · accepted, alternate representation
  • Conus (Sandericonus) sanderi Wils & Moolenbeek, 1979· accepted, alternate representation
  • Conus fosteri Clench, 1942
  • Conus perprotractus Petuch, 1987
  • Conus sanderi Wils & Moolenbeek, 1979
  • Conus sorenseni Sander, 1982
  • Conus villepinii fosteri Clench, 1942
  • Conus villepinii f. sanderi Wils & Moolenbeek, 1979
  • Conus villepinii guadalupensis Bozzetti, 2017
  • Conus villepinii villepinii P. Fischer & Bernardi, 1857
  • Dauciconus sanderi (Wils & Moolenbeek, 1979)
  • Sandericonus hunti (Wils & Moolenbeek, 1979)
  • Sandericonus perprotractus (Petuch, 1987)
  • Sandericonus sanderi (Wils & Moolenbeek, 1979)
  • Sandericonus sorenseni (Sander, 1982)

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.

Distribution

This marine species occurs from Florida to Southern Brasil and off Bermuda. The whereabouts of the original type specimen is unknown. The 1857 type locality for this species is the island of Marie Galante, S-East of Guadeloupe, Lesser Antilles.

The species is better known from the Gulf of Mexico (trawler) sources.

Immature specimens with purplish background color, dredged off Barbados, may have been described as Conus hunti, Wils & Moolenbeek, 1979 (synonym of Conus sanderi Wils & Moolenbeek, 1979).

The type locality of Conus sanderi, Wils & Moolenbeek, 1979 is off St. James, west coast of Barbados West Indies, where type material was dredged at 155–180 metres depth by R.V. Martlet, operating from Bellairs Research Institute of McGill University. This species also known from as far south as Eastern Brasil.

The coloration of the living animal of these immature Barbados specimens of around 20 mm. in overall length is a dirty-white with flecks of black, and black fringing at the edge of the mantle and siphonal canal.[2]

Description

The maximum recorded shell length is 93 mm.[3]

Habitat

Minimum recorded depth is 25 m.[3] Maximum recorded depth is 475 m.[3]

Cone shells looking very similar in appearance to the shell presented as the type illustration of C.villepinii have been dredged off West coast of Barbados, Lesser Antilles at depths around 85 fms/510 feet.

References
  1. Conus villepinii Fischer & Bernardi, 1857. Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 27 March 2010.
  2. Personal marine bio experience and observation, via dredgings during the 1980s
  3. Welch J. J. (2010). "The "Island Rule" and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". PLoS ONE 5(1): e8776. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008776.
  • The Conus Biodiversity website
  • Cone Shells - Knights of the Sea
  • "Conasprelloides villepinii". Gastropods.com. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  • Vink & Sander, Systematics and Distribution of Conus sanderi s.l.; The Veliger v.25 (1982-1983)


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