Conus lentiginosus Reeve, 1844

Franklin, J. Benjamin, Subramanian, K. A., Fernando, S. Antony & Krishnan, K. S., 2009, 2250, Zootaxa 2250, pp. 1-63 : 34

30. Conus lentiginosus Reeve, 1844 (Figure 31)

Conus lentiginosus Reeve, 1843 : pl. 44, no. 245 (syntype, BMNH (29 x 16 mm) ( Röckel et al. 1995); locality unknown).

Material examined: MBMCS 130 , 16 specimens, SL 32–36 mm; SW 16–18 mm .

Description. Shell moderately small to medium-sized, light to solid, glossy. Body whorl conical; outline convex at adapical two-thirds to three-fourths, straight or concave below; left side consistently sigmoid, right side almost straight. Shoulder angulate. Spire of moderate height, outline concave or sigmoid. Body whorl with axially striate spiral grooves on basal third, separated by ribs anteriorly and by ribbons posteriorly.

Ground colour white, variably tinged with violet. Body whorl with confluent brown axial flames, generally arranged in three spiral bands, below shoulder, near centre and within basal third. Spiral rows of brown dots and dashes extend from base to shoulder, varying in number and arrangement. Aperture white, tinged with violet deep within. Periostracum thin, brown, smooth and translucent.

Distribution. The first record of this species from India was by Reeve (1843). Subsequent records ( Abercrombie 1893; Melvill & Abercrombie 1893; Melvill & Standen 1901; Hornell & Tomlin 1951; Subrahmanyam et al. 1952) reported this species off Bombay (west coast). Along the east coast, Kohn (1978) referred to specimens in the AMNH and BMNH from the Gulf of Mannar and also reported one specimen of C. lentiginosus deposited in the ZSI as dredged off Vizhagapattinam.

The specimens described herein were collected from Keelakarai ( Table 6) by trawling in 10–20 m and diving in 8–10 m and from Vembar ( Table 6) by trawling in 10–30 m.

Remarks. The restricted distribution of this species in the Gulf of Mannar and the particular abundance at Keelakarai (S-19) indicate that they probably prefer sandy bottoms and rock crevices similar to previous records from Vizhagapattinam. Kohn (1978) observed that specimens from east and west coasts are essentially similar except for the pinkish tan base found in the Gulf of Mannar. Such an exception was not observed in this study.