Conus catus (Hwass in Bruguière, 1792)

Descrizione e caratteristiche:

E’ una conchiglia di dimensioni da piccola a medio-piccola, da moderatamente solida a solida; il peso relativo di esemplari di dimensioni simili può variare del 40%. L’ultimo giro è generalmente da ventricosamente conico a ventricosamente ampia e conica; il profilo è convesso fino a circa metà e per lo più diritto sotto; il lato sinistro è occasionalmente sinusoidale. La spalla è da angolata ad arrotondata. La spira è bassa o di altezza moderata, con il profilo da leggermente concavo a leggermente convesso. I primi 2-3 giri postnucleari sono tubercolati. Le rampe sono piane o leggermente concave, con scanalature spirali che da 1 aumentano fino a 4-8; le ultime rampe presentano ulteriori strie spirale subsuturali. L’ultimo giro si presenta variabile per quanto riguarda le sculture a spirale ⁽¹⁾.

A single somewhat worn shell from the Pleistocene beds at USGS locality 25715 on the Kere River, Santo, New Hebrides, has the proportions and sculpture of C. catus, and traces of original color on the spire are similar to patterns of C. catus. On the body whorl, however, are spiral lines of reddishbrown dashes, a pattern not found on any of the shells .in the large USNM collections-collections that, however, do not include any shells from the New Hebrides. Cernohorsky ( 1964, p. 70) reported such a pattern in his discussion of this variable species. The figured fossil, USNM 214311, measures: length 25.6 mm, diameter 16.3 mm ⁽²⁾.

The first appearance of Conus catus dates back to the Pliocene according to Harris: obtained from a well-digging 10 feet in depth, Chatham Islands (New Zealand) G. 9502. Two specimens. Transferred from the Museum of Practical Geology ⁽⁵⁾.

Lithoconus holoformis (De Gregorio, 1880), whose height is 19 mm., is very similar to the morphology of Conus bitorosus. The latter could in turn be the ancient progenitor of the Conus catus, present in the Red Sea as well as in the Indian and Pacific Ocean areas. The presence of the Conus catus in the Miocene of Java, testifies that already in the Oligocene, an ancestor of Conus bitorosus could have also spread in the area currently inhabited by the Conus catus.

Conus catus mm. 32,2 Middle Miocene – Indonesia [AZFC 562-01] Collected by local mining residents, from land lost after rain in the highlands 1000 meters above sea level. Remnants of white color blocks in dorsal view. "Jampang Regency". Southwest of Nyalindung. Edward J. Petuch definitely an ancestor of Pionoconus catus, but not the same species as the living one. Being of Miocene age is far too old to be the same species as catus---the average lifespan of a species is roughly 1 million years; far less for cones, which have been shown to have the ability to form a new species in only 7-10 thousand years (by changing their biochemistry and venom)	Conus catus rosa mm. 31,8 x 16,6 Somalia [AZRC N. 738-01]	Conus catus ^(2) mm. 25,6 x 16,3 USGS locality 25715 Kere River (Adsone River) Santo Island, Vanuatu, New Hebrides Pleistocene. USNM 214311

Tabel 1. ⁽³⁾

Kesebandingan Stratigrafi Regional Pegunungan Selatan Bagian Barat Jawa Barat

Santo Island ⁽²⁾

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Bibliografia

· (1) - Röckel, Korn & Kohn (1995) “Manual of the living Conidae” Volume I: Indo-Pacific Region

· (2) - Ladd (1982) “Cenozoic ·Fossil Mollusks From Western Pacific Islands; Gastropods (Eulimidae and Volutidae Through Terebridae)”

· (3) - “PALEONTOLOGI FORMASI NYALINDUNG” - Syarifin (2011)- Narasumber Laboratorium Paleontologi, FTG, Unpad

· (4) - Duda, Kohn and Palumbi (2001) “Origins of diverse feeding ecologies within Conus, a genus of venomous marine gastropods”

· (5) - Harris (1897) “CATALOGUE OF THE TERTIARY MOLLUSCA IN THE DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY. PART I AUSTRALASIA.”

· (6) - Vallejo (2005) “Inferring the mode of speciation in Indo‐West Pacific Conus (Gastropoda: Conidae)”

· (7) – Harris (1897) - CATALOGUE TERTIARY MOLLUSCA IV THE DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY. PART I. AUSTRALASIA

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