2250
Author
Franklin, J. Benjamin
Author
Subramanian, K. A.
Author
Fernando, S. Antony
Author
Krishnan, K. S.
text
Zootaxa
2009
2009-10-08
2250
1
63
journal article
11755334
1.
Conus achatinus
Gmelin, 1791
(
Figure 2
)
Conus achatinus
Gmelin, 1791: 3388
, no. 25 (representation of
lectotype
,
Chemnitz 1788
: pl. 142, fig. 1317 (74 x
42 mm
) (
Kohn 1966
); "Oceano americano", corrected to "
Java
" (
Coomans
et al
. 1979b
)).
Conus achatinus
Hwass
in
Bruguière, 1792: 671–673
, no. 66 (
lectotype
, MHNG (68.5 x 40.5 mm) (Kohn 1968); "Océan asiatique").
Conus ranunculus
Hwass
in
Bruguière, 1792: 671
, no. 65 (
holotype
, MHNG (45 x
23 mm
) (Kohn 1968); "Océan Amériquain").
Cucullus ventricosus
Röding, 1798: 49
, no. 623/114.
Conus achatinus
var.
infumata
Dautzenberg, 1937: 12
(representation of
lectotype
,
Chemnitz 1788
: pl. 142, fig. 1320 (60 x
31 mm
) (
Walls 1979
)).
Material examined:
MBMCS 101
,
5 specimens
, SL
35–65 mm
; SW
17–32 mm
.
Description.
Shell moderately solid, outline convex. Aperture wider at base than near shoulder. Spire of moderate height. Colour of body whorl olive or orange red to blackish brown, clouded with scattered white to dull yellowish flammules and blotches; broad band at centre with similar pattern. Spiral uniform thin lines of dark brown interrupted by white dots and dashes run from shoulder to base. Aperture bluish white; exterior dark colour pattern visible as a band along interior border of lip. Periostracum brown and opaque. End of siphon dark brown, proboscis deep orange to red.
Distribution.
Melvill & Abercrombie (1893)
first reported
C. achatinus
from
India
as ‘
C
.
monachus
Linnaeus var.
achatinus
Chemnitz’.
C. achatinus
was reported to be widely distributed along northwest coast from Okha southward to Goa (
Melvill & Abercrombie 1893
;
Abercrombie 1893
;
Melvill & Standen 1901
;
Hornell & Tomlin 1951
;
Subrahmanyam
et al.
1952
;
Kohn 1978
).
Ray (1949)
reported
two specimens
from the east coast.
The specimens reported herein were collected from Keelakarai (
Table 6
) by trawling in
5–20 m
and by diving in
10 m
.
Fifty-eight
specimens from
Colaba
,
Bombay
were collected by hand at low tide
.
TABLE 6.
Presence () of
Conus
species
and total number of species per sampling site.
FIGURES 2 to 61.
Photographs of
Conus
spp.
Shells with its distribution shown in TamilNadu map.
Remarks.
In Colaba,
Bombay
(18
0
53’N
72
0
48’E
),
C. achatinus
(piscivore) occurs together with
C. hyaena
(vermivore) on the upper intertidal region of the west coast, but it occurs only subtidally on the east coast.
Four
types
of shell colour patterns were observed among
C. achatinus
found on the west coast (Figure 62A, B, C & D) whereas only
one type
was observed in the east (
Figure 2
). The size range was similar between both coast specimens.