Tectus conus

Tectus conus
Five views of a shell of Tectus conus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Clade: Vetigastropoda
Superfamily: Trochoidea
Family: Tegulidae
Genus: Tectus
Species: T. conus
Binomial name
Tectus conus
(Gmelin, 1791) [1]
Synonyms
  • Tectus (Rochia) conus conus (Gmelin, J.F., 1791)
  • Trochus acutangulus Chemnitz, J.H. in Isakawa, 1919
  • Trochus altus Perry, G., 1811
  • Trochus altus Philippi, R.A., 1851
  • Trochus apiaria Perry, 1810
  • Trochus conus Gmelin, 1791 (original description)
  • Trochus elatus Lamarck, 1822
  • Trochus senatorius Philippi, 1848
  • Trochus turris Philippi, 1846
  • Rochia altus Philippi, 1851

Tectus conus, common name the cone top shell, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Tegulidae.[2]

Description

The height of the shell varies between 45 mm and 70 mm, its diameter between 45 mm and 60 mm. The solid, thick shell has a conic-pyramidal shape. Its, axis is imperforate but appears sub-umbilicate. It is white, longitudinally flammulated with bright red. The spire is conic. The apex is acute. The 10 whorls are spirally encircled by numerous (about 10 on upper surface) beaded lirae, which are separated by superficial interstices. Above the sutures there is a series of short folds or knobs which usually become obsolescent upon the periphery of the body whorl. The body whorl is obtuse at the periphery, nearly flat below, indented around the false umbilicus, obsoletely concentrically lirate, the lirae about 9 in number, red and white articulated, interstices white. The aperture is transversely rhomboidal, somewhat rounded. The columella is nearly vertically descending, subdentate at base, above with a profoundly entering spiral fold. The parietal wall bears a heavy transparent callus, which is excavated around the axis.[3]

Distribution

This marine species occurs in the Red Sea, off the Philippines, Indo-Mamaysia, off Vietnam, New Caledonia and New South Wales, Australia.

References

Drawing with an apertural view of a shell of Tectus conus
  1. Gmelin, Syst. Nat., xiii, p. 3569. (1788
  2. Tectus conus (Gmelin, 1791).  Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 20 April 2010.
  3. Tryon (1889), Manual of Conchology XI, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia (described as Trochus acutangulus)
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