Conus cashi (Hendricks, 2015)

Description

Shell size. Shell moderately small (largest complete observed specimen, PRI 66162, is 26.2 mm; PRI 67166, which is missing its anterior third, is larger).

Last whorl. Narrowly conical to conical (RD 0.49–0.50, μ = 0.49; PMD 0.85–0.86, μ = 0.86; n = 2); outline convex on posterior half, slightly concave on anterior half, resulting in slightly sigmoidal profile. Shoulder angulate to subangulate; tuberculate. Widest part of shell below shoulder. Aperture uniform in width from base to shoulder. Siphonal notch absent. Spiral threads on anterior third.

Spire whorls. Spire height moderate (RSH 0.14; n = 2); outline concave to sigmoidal. Protoconch with ca. 2 whorls, diameter 0.9 mm (based on PRI 66144). All postnuclear whorls tuberculate. Sutural ramp sigmoidal, with 2–3 spiral threads. Subsutural flexure slightly asymmetrical, depth about 0.5x width.

Coloration pattern. Two noninteracting patterns present. The primary (base) pattern consists of two wide spiral bands that cover most of the anterior and posterior ends of the last whorl, leaving a narrow, unpigmented band in the center. The secondary pattern consists of jagged, non-branching (but sometimes touching) thin axial streaks that in many cases extend from the base to the shoulder. The two patterns differ slightly in the color of emitted light. Sutural ramp with radial streaks that roughly correspond with the shape of the subsutural flexure ⁽¹⁾.

Etymology

Named in honor of American musician John “Johnny” Cash (1932–2003), otherwise known as “The Man in Black” ⁽¹⁾.

Type locality and horizon

TU 1215: Río Gurabo, Dominican Republic; lower Pliocene Gurabo Formation.

Remarks

Conus cashi is not similar to other DR fossil species, but is similar in shell morphology and especially coloration pattern to the extant eastern Pacific species Conus (Ductoconus) princeps Linnaeus, 1758 (Fig. 19K), suggesting that C. cashi should also be included with C. princeps in the subgenus Ductoconus da Motta, 1991, which was accepted by Puillandre et al. Puillandre et al. found molecular support for the western Atlantic species C. hieroglyphus Duclos, 1833 being the sister taxon of C. princeps, but it has a very different shell morphology than C. princeps ⁽¹⁾.

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Fig 19. Conus (Ductoconus) cashi Hendricks sp. nov. (A-J) ⁽¹⁾

(A-F) PRI 66144, TU 1215, SL 22.5 mm;

(G) PRI 67166, TU 1422, SL 23.8 mm;

(H) PRI 66162, TU 1422, SL 26.2 mm;

(I) NMB H18381, NMB 15848, SL 25.0 mm;

(J) PRI 66116, TU 1278, SL 18.1 mm

Conus princeps Linnaeus, 1758 (K)

Perlas Islands, Panama

(K) UF 169052–1

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Bibliografia Consultata

· (1) - Hendricks (2015) “Glowing Seashells: Diversity of Fossilized Coloration Patterns on Coral Reef-Associated Cone Snail (Gastropoda: Conidae) Shells from the Neogene of the Dominican Republic”