''Conus circumcisus'', common names the circumcision cone or the auger cone, the borer shell, or the leader cone, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod

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 es ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

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, group ...

, 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 ...

and their allies. Like all species within the genus ''Conus'', these snails are

predatory Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill t ...

and

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 ...

. They are capable of "stinging" humans, therefore live ones should be handled carefully or not at all.

Description

The thin shell is striated throughout. The color of the shell is yellowish or violaceous white, clouded.with chestnut, with distant revolving series of chestnut spots and short lines, most conspicuous on two irregular lighter bands. The shell of ''Conus brazieri'' G. B. Sowerby III, 1881 is rather solid, with revolving striae throughout. Its color is whitish, tinged with pale rose-pink, with two broad, light yellowish brown bands, sprinkled here and there with a few very minute brown spots. The

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 ...

is conspicuously marked with dark brown blotches.

George Washington Tryon George Washington Tryon Jr. (20 May 1838 – 5 February 1888) was an American malacologist who worked at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. Biography George Washington Tryon was the son of Edward K. Tryon and Adeline Savidt. ...

, Manual of Conchology, vol. VI, p. 81 (described as ''Conus brazieri'')

Distribution

This marine species occurs in the Pacific Ocean off the

Moluccas The Maluku Islands (; Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Maluku'') or the Moluccas () are an archipelago in the east of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located ...

, 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 ...

, the

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Internati ...

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 ca ...

and

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

; off Australia (the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Au ...

and

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...

)

References

* Born, I. von 1778. ''Index rerum naturalium Musei Caesarei Vindobonensis, pl. 1, Testacea''. - Verzeichniss etc. Illust. Vindobonae. Vienna : J.P. Krauss xlii 458 pp. * Gmelin J.F. 1791. Caroli a Linné. Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Lipsiae : Georg. Emanuel. Beer Vermes. Vol. 1(Part 6) pp. 3021-3910. * Bruguière, M. 1792. ''Encyclopédie Méthodique ou par ordre de matières. Histoire naturelle des vers.'' Paris : Panckoucke Vol. 1 i-xviii, 757 pp. * Röding, P.F. 1798. ''Museum Boltenianum sive Catalogus cimeliorum e tribus regnis naturae quae olim collegerat Joa.'' Hamburg : Trappii 199 pp. * Reeve, L.A. 1843. ''Monograph of the genus Conus.'' pls 1-39 in Reeve, L.A. (ed.). Conchologica Iconica. London : L. Reeve & Co. Vol. 1. * Sowerby, G. B., III. 1881a. ''Description of a new species of Conus''. Journal of Conchology 3(8):234-235, pl. 1 * Schepman, M.M. 1913. ''Toxoglossa''. 384-396 in Weber, M. & de Beaufort, L.F. (eds). The Prosobranchia, Pulmonata and Opisthobranchia Tectibranchiata, Tribe Bullomorpha, of the Siboga Expedition. Monograph 49. Siboga Expeditie 32(2) * Rippingale, O.H. & McMichael, D.F. 1961. ''Queensland and Great Barrier Reef Shells''. Brisbane : Jacaranda Press 210 pp. * Hinton, A. 1972. ''Shells of New Guinea and the Central Indo-Pacific.'' Milton : Jacaranda Press xviii 94 pp. * 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. * Filmer R.M. (2001). ''A Catalogue of Nomenclature and Taxonomy in the Living Conidae 1758 - 1998''. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden. 388pp. * Tucker J.K. (2009). ''Recent cone species database''. September 4, 2009 Edition * Tucker J.K. & Tenorio M.J. (2009) ''Systematic classification of Recent and fossil conoidean gastropods''. Hackenheim: Conchbooks. 296 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

The ''Conus'' Biodiversity website

Cone Shells - Knights of the Sea
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Conus Circumcisus circumcisus Gastropods described in 1778