''Conus adversarius'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce 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 snails are slow-moving marine (ocean), marine gastropod Mollusca, molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the Taxonomic classification, taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguishe ...

in the genus ''

Conus ''Conus'' is a genus of venomous and predatory cone snails.Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S. (2015). Conus Linnaeus, 1758. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&i ...

''. It lived from the Early

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

. 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

Discovery

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

Chapel Hill, North Carolina Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, Orange and Durham County, North Carolina, Durham counties, North Carolina, United States. Its population was 61,960 in the 2020 United States census, making Chapel Hill the List of municipa ...

. 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 A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

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 The Southeastern United States, also known as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical List of regions in the United States, region of the United States located in the eastern portion of the Southern United States and t ...

. 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 (geology), Period: Neogene Epoch (geology), Epoch: Late Miocene to Pliocene Faunal stage: Clarendonian through Blancan ~13.06 ...

(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