''Conus boeticus'', common name the boeticus 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.
Description
The shell size varies between 15 mm and 40 mm. The striate
spire is slightly tuberculate. The
body whorl
The body whorl is part of the morphology of the shell in those gastropod mollusks that possess a coiled shell. The term is also sometimes used in a similar way to describe the shell of a cephalopod mollusk.
In gastropods
In gastropods, the b ...
is granular, striate
towards the base. The color of the shell is white, marbled with chestnut or chocolate, with revolving rows of chestnut spots.
[ George Washington Tryon, Manual of Conchology vol. VI, p.26; 1879]
Distribution
This species occurs in the Indian Ocean off
Mozambique, the
Seychelles and the
Mascarene Basin and in the Pacific Ocean off
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
,
Indonesia,
Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...
and Australia.
References
* Reeve, L.A. 1843. ''Descriptions of new species of shells figured in the 'Conchologia Iconica'.'' Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 11: 169–197
* Reeve, L.A. 1849. ''Monograph of the genus Conus.'' pls 4–9 in Reeve, L.A. (ed). Conchologia Iconica. London : L. Reeve & Co. Vol. 1.
* Sowerby, G.B. (3rd) 1887. ''Thesaurus Conchyliorum. Supplements to the Monograph of Conus and Voluta. Vol. 5'' 249–279, pls 29–36.
* Sowerby, G.B. (3rd) 1913. ''Descriptions of eight new marine Gastropoda mostly from Japan.'' Annals and Magazine of Natural History 8 11: 557–560
* Hinton, A. 1972. ''Shells of New Guinea and the Central Indo-Pacific.'' Milton : Jacaranda Press xviii 94 pp.
* 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.
* Filmer R.M. (2010) ''A taxonomic review of the Conus boeticus Reeve complex (Gastropoda – Conidae).'' Visaya 2(6): 21–80 page(s): 24
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
File:Conus boeticus 1.jpg, ''Conus boeticus'' Reeve, L.A., 1844
File:Conus boeticus 2.jpg, ''Conus boeticus'' Reeve, L.A., 1844
External links
The ''Conus'' Biodiversity website*
Cone Shells – Knights of the Sea
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conus Boeticus
Conus, boeticus
Gastropods described in 1844