Conus carlottae (Hendricks, 2015)

Description ⁽¹⁾

Shell size. Shell medium sized (largest observed specimen, PRI 66161, is 40.2 mm).

Last whorl. Ventricosely conical (RD 0.65–0.69, μ = 0.66; PMD 0.79–0.84, μ = 0.81; n = 10);outline convex. Shoulder rounded, smooth. Widest part of shell below shoulder. Aperture slightly wider at base than near shoulder. Siphonal notch absent; anterior-most end of lip extends beyond columella. Broad and anteriorly sloping spiral ribs on anterior half that diminish toward the shoulder.

Spire whorls. Spire height low to moderate (RSH = 0.10–0.18, μ = 0.12; n = 10); outline sigmoidal. Protoconch unknown. Tubercles absent from all spire whorls. Sutural ramp flat in early whorls, convex in later whorls, with several very fine spiral grooves (see PRI 66199); one specimen (PRI 67159) shows evidence of two spiral threads on the earliest postnuclear whorls. In later whorls, the intersection of the sutural ramp with the previous whorl forms a channel along the suture. Subsutural flexure asymmetrical, depth 1–1.5x width.

Coloration pattern. One pattern present. Pattern consists of round- to teardrop-shaped spots that are situated in a loosely hexagonal packing arrangement over the entirety of the last whorl. The spots are ringed—most prominently on their abaxial sides—by fluorescing regions that differ in emitted wavelength from the enclosed spots (see Fig. 29I). The last whorl pattern extends over the shoulder onto the sutural ramp.

Etymology ⁽¹⁾

Named for Carlotta Maury (1874–1938) in honor of her important contributions to paleontology, particularly her work on Neogene mollusks from the Dominican Republic. (Note: Finlay honored Maury with the nomen novum C. mauryi to replace the occupied name C. ornatus (Röding, 1798), which Maury applied to a very different species from the Dominican Republic.)

Remarks ⁽¹⁾

The distinctive shell coloration pattern exhibited by C. carlottae is unknown among modern cones snails. In overall shell form, however, C. carlottae bears resemblance to some of the extant species that Tucker and Tenorio assigned to the genus Varioconus da Motta, 1991 and that Puillandre et al. attributed to the subgenus Lautoconus Monterosato, 1923; today these species occur along the west coast of Africa. The extinct species Conus yaquensis Gabb, 1873 (e.g., http://neogeneatlas.org/species/conus-yaquensis-2/), known from the upper Pliocene Tamiami Fm. of Florida, is somewhat similar in shell morphology, but has the opposite coloration pattern: a net-like reticulated pattern that forms unpigmented dots. The pattern of C. yaquensis is similar to that of some specimens of C. mercator Linnaeus, 1758 (e.g., http://www.coneshell.net/Pages/c_mercator.htm), an extant species assigned by Puillandre et al. to the subgenus Lautoconus. This subgeneric assignment is tentatively followed here for C. carlottae.

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Fig 29. Conus (Lautoconus?) carlottae Hendricks sp. nov.

Specimens are from locality stations TU 1422 (Cercado Fm.) and TU 1354 (Gurabo Fm.).

(A-E) PRI 66199 (holotype), TU 1354, SL 33.0 mm;

(F-G) PRI 67154 (paratype), TU 1354, SL 29.7 mm;

(H-I) PRI 66161 (paratype), TU 1422, SL 40.2 mm;

(J) PRI 66198 (paratype), TU 1422, SL 27.8 mm.

(D-J) are reversed images of specimens photographed under UV light.

Scale bar to left of (A) is 1 cm and pertains to images (A-H, J);

(I) is a magnified view of one of the pigmented spots on (H).

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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”