''Conus adversarius'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

species of

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 ...

sea snail Sea snail is a common name for slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguished from snails primarily by the ...

in the genus ''

Conus ''Conus'' is a genus of predatory sea snails, or cone snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Conidae.Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S. (2015). Conus Linnaeus, 1758. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at ...

''. It lived from the Early

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

. It is the only species in the genus that is entirely sinistral (left handed). Initially described by T. A. Conrad in 1840 in

Duplin County, North Carolina Duplin County ()
, from the North Carolina Collection's website at the

...

. The species is present in formations from south Florida to Virginia. It occupied a multitude of different marine ecosystems, which include reefs and deep sea environments.

Name

The species name “adversarius” is a Latin word that means “against” or “opposed to”. This name is likely in reference to the sinistral nature of the species, which sets it apart from other species in the genus. Beingantagonist

Discovery

The first specimen of ''Conus adversarius'' was collected by Professor Mitchell of

Chapel Hill, North Carolina Chapel Hill is a town in Orange, Durham and Chatham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Its population was 61,960 in the 2020 census, making Chapel Hill the 17th-largest municipality in the state. Chapel Hill, Durham, and the state ca ...

. It was found in (what is termed by Conrad) as the “Medial tertiary” of Duplin County. Some time afterwards, it (and some other fossils) came into the possession of an individual by the name of Daniel B. Smith. Daniel was a friend of T. A. Conrad who was the first to recognize the importance of the fossils. The species was first described in 1840, on page 388 of the ''American Journal of Science and Art'', vol 39. Conrad had written to the editors of the journal that he had acquired some fossil shells of species that he believed to be new, and had given the descriptions of each to be published.

Description

''Conus adversarius'' can be almost immediately distinguished from all other Conidae species due to the sinistral nature of its shell. It is also the largest fossil cone in the south-eastern United States: specimens from Florida are known to 27 cm.

Ecology

Habitat ''Conus adversarius'' occupied a variety of habitats around the southeastern United States. These include reefs, open-marine environments, the deep sea, coastal waters, restricted shallow subtidal and offshore environments. The mean annual temperature analyzed between 3 specimens recorded from the

Tamiami formation The Tamiami Formation is a Late Miocene to Pliocene geologic formation in the southwest Florida peninsula. Age Period: Neogene Epoch: Late Miocene to Pliocene Faunal stage: Clarendonian through Blancan ~13.06–2.588 mya, calculates to a ...

(pinecrest beds) was 24.9, 22.67 and 23.3°C. Life span Research into the same 3 specimens has shown the largest and smallest both lived the same amount of time, 2 years each. Predators Natural predators of ''Conus adversarius'' included Crabs and Moon snails, as evidenced by damage to their shells. Due to the venomous nature of the genus, the species wouldn’t have had many real predators. PredationonConus

Prey Juvenile and adult ''Conus adversarius'' would have featured differing diets, which would change with age. As with modern cones, they would’ve used a harpoon-like organ to stun prey, before dragging them back to the snail for consumption. Juveniles would’ve eaten small sea worms, whilst the larger adults would’ve fed on fish and other snails.

References

* A. A. Olsson and A. Harbison. 1953. Pliocene Mollusca of Southern Florida. Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia Monograph 8:1-457 * J. R. DuBar. 1958. Stratigraphy and paleontology of the Late Neogene strata of the Caloosahatchee River area of southern Florida. Florida Geological Survey Bulletin 40:1-267 * A. A. Olsson and R. E. Petit. 1964. Some Neogene Mollusca from Florida and the Carolinas. Bulletins of American Paleontology 47(217):509-575 * J. R. Hendricks. 2008. The genus Conus (Mollusca: Neogastropoda) in the Plio-Pleistocene of the Southeastern United States. Bulletins of American Paleontology 375:1-178

External links

* * * * * *? {{Taxonbar, from=Q9860330 adversarius Prehistoric gastropods Gastropods described in 1840