Conus kaesleri (Hendricks, 2015)

Description ⁽¹⁾

Shell size. Shell medium sized (largest observed specimen, PRI 67670, is 46.5 mm). Last whorl. Typically conical or broadly conical, but sometimes ventricosely conical (RD 0.66–0.72, μ = 0.69; PMD 0.83–0.89, μ = 0.87; n = 5); outline convex, except at anterior quarter, which may be slightly concave. Shoulder subangulate, smooth. Widest part of shell below shoulder. Aperture uniform in width from base to shoulder. Siphonal notch absent. Spiral threads, which are often beaded, on anterior half, diminishing towards shoulder ⁽¹⁾.

Spire whorls. Spire height low to moderate (RSH 0.09–0.14; μ = 0.11, n = 5); outline concave to slightly sigmoidal. Protoconch unknown. Early postnuclear whorls unknown; tubercles absent from preserved whorls. Sutural ramp sigmoidal, unornamented. Subsutural flexure asymmetrical, depth about 0.9x width ⁽¹⁾.

Coloration pattern. In most specimens, two noninteracting patterns present. The primary (base) pattern consists of 2–4 discontinuous spiral bands. The secondary pattern consists of about 20–40 spiral rows of dots or dashes; spaces between these are sometimes unpigmented. The two patterns differ slightly in the color of emitted light. Sutural ramp with radial blotches that sometimes correspond with the shape of the subsutural flexure. One eroded specimen— PRI 67670—shows a different coloration pattern: its last whorl is covered in a network of small, chevron-shaped markings (Fig. 27K) ⁽¹⁾.

Etymology

Named in honor of University of Kansas paleontologist Roger L. Kaesler (1937–2007) ⁽¹⁾.

Remarks

Among other Neogene cone snail fossils from the Dominican Republic, C. kaesleri is similar to C. lombardii sp. nov. and C. spurius Gmelin, 1791, which is an extant species. All three species have somewhat similar shell shapes and lack ornamentation on their sutural ramps. The coloration pattern of C. spurius, however, is very different from either of the newly described species, both of which have numerous spiral rows of dots and dashes on their last whorls.

Conus kaesleri (which is only known from the Gurabo Fm.) and C. lombardii (which is only known from the Cercado Fm.) are not known to occur together, but are likely closely related. Several features separate the two species, however. First, the width of the aperture is uniform from the base to the shoulder in C. kaesleri, but is slightly wider near the base in C. lombardii. Second, specimens of C. kaesleri tend to have lower spires (average RSH is 0.11) than specimens of C. lombardii (average RSH is 0.17). Finally, the coloration patterns vary slightly, as the discontinuous spiral bands present in C. kaesleri are absent in C. lombardii ⁽¹⁾.

Interestingly, the same networked, chevron-like pattern described above for the eroded specimen PRI 67670 is also present on an eroded specimen of C. lombardii (PRI 67213). This suggests that both species may have had an additional level of coloration patterning that was not expressed at the surface of the last whorl of the shell. Puillandre et al. [2] assigned C. spurius to the subgenus Lindaconus, but it is here assigned to the subgenus Spuriconus. Given their strong similarities to C. spurius, C. kaesleri and C. lombardii are tentatively also assigned to Spuriconus ⁽¹⁾.

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Fig 27. Conus (Spuriconus?) kaesleri Hendricks sp. nov.

All specimens are from locality station TU 1354 (Gurabo Fm.).

(A-D) PRI 66185 (holotype), SL 22.6 mm;

(E) PRI 67668 (paratype), SL 18.8 mm;

(F) PRI 67669 (paratype), SL 21.2 mm;

(G) PRI 67667 (paratype), SL 28.5 mm;

(H-J) PRI 67666 (paratype), SL 38.7 mm;

(K) PRI 67670 (paratype), SL 46.5 mm.

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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”