''Conus excelsus'',
commonly known as the excelsior cone or illustrious cone, is a species of predatory
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 ...
, a
marine
Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean.
Marine or marines may refer to:
Ocean
* Maritime (disambiguation)
* Marine art
* Marine biology
* Marine debris
* Marine habitats
* Marine life
* Marine pollution
Military
* ...
gastropod
The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda ().
This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...
mollusk
Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...
in the family Conidae, the cone snails.
[Bouchet, P. (2015). Conus excelsus G. B. Sowerby III, 1908. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=426492 on 2015-06-07]
Shell description
The shell has a very high
spire
A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...
, with a size varying between 28 mm and 102 mm, compared to most cone shells, and thus it is exceptionally long relative to its width. This, and its overall rarity, makes it desirable to shell collectors. Its coloration consists of orangish to yellow pattern on a white background.
Distribution
''Conus excelsus'' is an Indo-Pacific species found principally around the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
, but also as north as southern Japan and as far east as
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu
Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea).
It is a simplified version of ...
and the
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...
. it also occurs off
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
, Australia
Conus excelsus Sowerby iii, 1908 - Record: CONUS BIODIVERSITY WEBSITE CATALOGUE
/ref>
The species is rare but not endangered.
References
* Brazier, J.W. 1894. ''A new Cone, Conus pulcherrimus Brazier, described from Tanna, New Hebrides.'' Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 2 9: 189
* Sowerby, G. B., III. 1908. ''Description of a new species of the genus Conus''. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 8, 1:465-466, fig. 95.
* Cotton, B.C. 1945. ''A Catalogue of the Cone Shells (Conidae) in the South Australian Museum.'' Records of the South Australian Museum (Adelaide) 8(2): 229-280
* Shikama, T. & Habe, T. 1968. ''A new Japanese cone, Turriconus nakayasui with reference to Embrikeana stupa group.'' Venus 26(3-4): 57-60
* Cernohorsky, W.O. 1974. ''The taxonomy of some Indo-Pacific Mollusca with description of a new species. Part 2.'' Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum 11: 121–142, 38 figs
* Cernohorsky, W.O. 1978. ''Tropical Pacific marine shells.'' Sydney : Pacific Publications 352 pp., 68 pls.
* Wilson, B. 1994. ''Australian Marine Shells. Prosobranch Gastropods.'' Kallaroo, WA : Odyssey Publishing Vol. 2 370 pp.
* Röckel, D., Korn, W. & Kohn, A.J. 1995. ''Manual of the Living Conidae. Volume 1: Indo-Pacific Region''. Wiesbaden : Hemmen 517 pp.
Puillandre N., Duda T.F., Meyer C., Olivera B.M. & Bouchet P. (2015). ''One, four or 100 genera? A new classification of the cone snails''. Journal of Molluscan Studies. 81: 1-23
External links
*http://www.coneshells-am.ru/ Cone Shells - Knights of the Sea
*
Gallery
File:Conus excelsus 1.jpg, ''Conus excelsus'' Sowerby, G.B. III, 1908
File:Conus excelsus 2.jpg, ''Conus excelsus'' Sowerby, G.B. III, 1908
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2047925
excelsus
Gastropods described in 1908
Molluscs of the Philippines