Conus aneuretos (Hoerle, 1976)

Diagnosis ⁽¹⁾:

Shell broad for the height; medium high spire; last whorl rapidly tapering with slight basal constriction. Slender protoconch of three whorls, eight teleoconch whorls in adult specimens. Spire outline slightly concave; shoulders sharply keeled; sutures closely adpressed. Summits of early spire whorls flat, later ones concave: close-set moderately arcuate growth lines. Anterior half of last whorl ornamented with eight broad, flat, spiral bands, decreasing in width anteriorly, bands separated by incrementally striated grooves. Outer lip moderately arched, anterior portion crenated in harmony with basal sculpture. Siphonal fasciole slightly bulging.

Dimensions of holotype: height 17.5 mm, diameter 10.1 mm.

Holotype: USNM 220103.

Type locality: TU 825, Farley Creek at abandoned mill about Y.t mile west of bridge of Florida Highway 275 (SW Y.t Sec. 21, T1N, R9W), Calhoun

County, Florida.

Occurrence: Chipola Formation, Florida; late lower Miocene.

Figured specimens: Fig. 1, USNM 220103 (holotype). Fig. 2, USNM 220104; height 17.6 mm, diameter 10.7 mm; locality TU 546.

Other occurrences : TU locality nos. 458, 548, 554, 818, 819, 820b, 821, 822, 823, 824, 826, 827, 828 , 830,951,998, 999. )

Discussion: This new species is distinguished by its small size, slender, threewhorled nucleus, closely adpressed sutures, unornamented, concave spire whorls and keeled shoulder. The basal sculpture shows no change at any period of growth, although a few pustules may be scattered along the

broad bands that encircle the final whorl. However, this is the exception not the rule.

C. aneuretos is remarkably constant in outline from the juvenile to the adult stage. Many species show a change in the height of the spire, usually lowering with growth, and oftentimes a sharp shoulder on a juvenile becomes a rounded shoulder on an adult. These expected outline changes, and lack of them in some species, have added to the confusion of identification in numerous occasions. Possibly this explains Dall's selection of C. aneuretos as a paratype and juvenile example of C. isomitratus. The Greek word aneuretos, meaning "undiscovered," is selected for this species as the taxa so aptly describes the fate of this Conus since 1896. (See final paragraph of discussion under C. isomitratus.)

Of the nearly 500 specimens in the writer's collection 70% were collected from Farley Creek, 28% from localities on Ten Mile Creek, and the remaining 2% from the Chipola River.

The color pattern of C. aneuretos (pl. 2, fig. 2) is unique to the Chipola cones. The other species of this formation have a basic similarity, close-set, interrupted spiral lines overlain with a definite design. This new species shows only solid spiral stripes, with no overlay of design.

Conus aneuretos^(1) 1: USNM 220103 – mm. 17,5 x 10,1 2: USNM 220104 – mm. 17,6 x 10,7	Conus aneuretos

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Bibliografia Consultata

· (1) - Hoerle, S. E., 1976. The Genus Conus (Mollusca: Gastropoda) from the Alum Bluff Group of Northwestern Florida. Tulane Studies in Geology and Paleontology, 12 (1 )