Conus haughtoni(King, 1953)

Conus haughtoni (King, 1953)

Description:

Shell about 35 mm. in height, with spire low or of medium height. Body whorl not inflated, contracting regularly to the anterior end, outline smooth. Shoulder broadly rounded, whorls convex, distinct. Sculpture on the anterior half of the body whorl, of well-spaced grooves, alternately broad and narrow, otherwise smooth. Anterior end truncate, sinus very weak. Posterior sinus also weak or absent. Columella with a very slight twist, low down. Juvenile specimens have a proportionately higher spire and an ornamentation of spiral grooves, one-third as wide as the flat intervening, spiral ridges extending from the anterior end to just beneath the rounded shoulder. Juveniles are also proportionately more slender than adult shells.

The nearest relative is probably C. avaensis Noetling, from Burma. The species is named for Dr. S. H. Haughton, in recognition of his many years of palaeontological research in South Africa, and especially of his studies upon the Tertiary marine palaeontology of the Oape Province and South-West Africa. After Aequipecten uloa, C. haughtoni and C. proliferatus are the most abundant species at the Uloa locality (Sudafrica)⁽¹⁾.

In my opinion, a correlation with Conus martini (Shuto, 1969) = Conus dingleanus (Beets, 1984) cannot be excluded, a species described after 1953 and therefore King could not know.