Conus eburneus Hwass, 1792

Franklin, J. Benjamin, Subramanian, K. A., Fernando, S. Antony & Krishnan, K. S., 2009, 2250, Zootaxa 2250, pp. 1-63 : 28

20. Conus eburneus Hwass in Bruguière, 1792 (Figure 21)

Conus eburneus Hwass in Bruguière, 1792: 640–641, no. 89 (representation of lectotype, Cuvier 1798: pl. 324, fig. 1 (46

x 30 mm) (Kohn 1968); "aux mers des Indes orientales"). Cucullus quadratulus Röding, 1798: 41 , no. 512 (representation of lectotype, Martini 1773: pl. 61, fig. 670 (45 x 24 mm)

(Kohn 1975); locality unknown). Conus alternatus Link, 1807: 101–102 (lectotype same as of C. quadratulus Röding ( Kohn 1981) ; locality unknown). Conus crassus Sowerby II, 1858: 25 , no. 203, pl. 12, figs. 254, 255 (lectotype, BMNH (44 x 29 mm) ( Walls 1979); "Feejee Islands"). Conus eburneus var. polyglotta Weinkauff, 1874: 244 ("Pelew Ins., Gesellsch.-Ins. ").

Material examined: MBMCS 120 , 2 specimens, SL 40 mm; SW 25 mm .

Description. Shell medium sized, moderately solid with high gloss. Body whorl conical, outline convex at sub-shoulder and straight below. Base truncate. Shoulder rounded. Spire low, pointed and sides straight; spire whorls flat. Body whorl with numerous weak spiral ribs and ribbons on basal fourth to half. Aperture narrow, slightly wider at base, outer lip thin and sharp.

Ground colour white, body whorl with spiral rows of large, variably spaced reddish-brown squarish spots and rectangular bars of various sizes; four light-yellow bands underlie spiral rows of spots below the shoulder, on both sides of centre and on the base. Shoulder with regular oblique brown spots, extending on to last spire whorl; other spire whorls with regular reddish-brown spots; tip of spire white. Aperture white.

Distribution. Kohn (1978) reported museum specimens of C. eburneus collected from Tuticorin (at BMNH) and Tranquebar (at ZMUC) by Winckworth.

The specimens described herein were collected from Tuticorin ( Table 6) from the trash discarded at the fishing harbour. The depth and substratum informations are thus not known.

Remarks. After Winckworth’s collection, this is the second report of C. eburneus from India.