Conus malacanus Hwass

Franklin, J. Benjamin, Subramanian, K. A., Fernando, S. Antony & Krishnan, K. S., 2009, 2250, Zootaxa 2250, pp. 1-63 : 38

37. Conus malacanus Hwass in Bruguière, 1792 (Figure 38)

Conus malacanus Hwass in Bruguière, 1792: 645, no. 43 (representation of holotype, Cuvier 1798: pl. 325, fig. 9 (53 x 31 mm) ( Röckel et al. 1995); "Pres du dètroit de Malacca ").

Conus canaliculatus Dillwyn, 1817 : pl. 325, fig. 9 (lectotype same as holotype of C. malacanus ( Walls 1979) ; "the coasts of Ceylon, and the Nicobar Islands. Chemnitz. Straits of Malacca. Bruguière").

Conus subcarinatus Sowerby II, 1865: 518 , pl. 32, figs. 12, 13 (two syntypes, BMNH (45 x 25; 40 x 23 mm); locality unknown).

Conus cuneatus Sowerby III, 1873: 146 , pl. 15, fig. 5 (holotype, ZMA (33 x 20 mm) ( Röckel et al. 1995); " Nicobar Islands ").

Material examined: MBMCS 137 , 81 specimens, SL 42–68 mm; SW 22–36 mm .

Description. Shell medium sized to moderately large, solid to heavy. Body whorl conical to broadly conical; outline variably convex at adapical third, straight below. Shoulder broad and carinate. Spire of low to moderate height; outline concave to straight; early whorls forming a small projecting cone. Body whorl smooth except for a few weak spiral ridges above base.

Ground colour white, body whorl usually with two variably broad continuous or interrupted brown spiral bands, leaving white zones below shoulder at centre and at base. Several widely spaced narrow axial stripes may be continuous from shoulder to base, or interrupted at mid-body. Spire and shoulder whitish, sparsely or heavily marked with brownish blotches and curved streaks, early whorls pale brown. Aperture moderately wide, uniform in width; outer lip thin, straight. Aperture white or sometimes cream. Periostracum yellow, thin, smooth and translucent.

Distribution. Gravely (1942) reported C. malacanus (as ‘ C. voluminalis Hinds’) from Madras. Kohn (1978) collected a live specimen from PortoNovo. He also reported museum specimens collected off Ennore (at Madras), Karaikal (at IRSN) and Tranquebar (at ZMUC).

The specimens described herein were collected from the Northern and Palk Bay regions ( Table 6) by trawling in 8–50 m, mainly on sand and sandy-mud bottoms.

Remarks. Kohn (1978) stated that the distribution of C. malacanus is restricted to the east coast. In this survey we observed this species is limited to the Northern and Palk Bay regions. Its absence in the Gulf of Mannar and further south probably suggests that it is not a coral-associated species. It often occurs in the same habitat as like C. monile , C. bayani , C. amadis and C. betulinus .