''Conus hieroglyphus'', common name the hieroglyphic cone, is a species of
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
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 in the
family Conidae
Conidae, with the current common name of "cone snails", is a taxonomic family (previously subfamily) of predatory sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Conoidea.
The 2014 classification of the superfamily Conoidea, groups onl ...
, the
cone snails
A cone is a three-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a flat base (frequently, though not necessarily, circular) to a point called the apex or vertex.
A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines, or lines co ...
and their allies.
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 off
Aruba
Aruba ( , , ), officially the Country of Aruba ( nl, Land Aruba; pap, Pais Aruba) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands physically located in the mid-south of the Caribbean Sea, about north of the Venezuela peninsula of ...
, the Netherlands Antilles.
Description
The maximum recorded
shell length is 23 mm.
[Welch J. J. (2010). "The "Island Rule" and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". '' PLoS ONE'' 5(1): e8776. .]
The white shell shows revolving series of spots and irregular or cloud-like markings of orange, chestnut or chocolate, often forming interrupted bands. The base is grooved. The
spire has a single broad
sulcus.
G.W. Tryon (1884) Manual of conchology, structural and systematic, with illustrations of the species, vol. VI; Philadelphia, Academy of Natural Sciences
(described as ''Conus proteus'' Hwass)
Habitat
Minimum recorded depth is 6 m.
References
Adams, C. B. 1850. ''Description of supposed new species of marine shells which inhabit Jamaica''. Contributions to Conchology, 4: 56–68, 109–123
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
The ''Conus'' Biodiversity websiteCone Shells - Knights of the Sea
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conus Hieroglyphus
hieroglyphus
''Hieroglyphus''Krauss (1877878 ''S.B. Akad. Wiss. Wien, Math.-Nat. Kl.'' (Abt. 1) 76(1): 41. is a genus of grasshoppers in the family Acrididae: subfamily Hemiacridinae and the tribe Hieroglyphini Bolívar, 1912. Species can be found in Africa a ...
Gastropods described in 1833
Gastropods of Aruba