Conus (Splinoconus) hughmorrisoni, Lorenz & Puillandre & Umr, 2015

Lorenz, Felix, Puillandre, Nicolas & Umr, Biodiversité Isyeb -, 2015, Conus hughmorrisoni, a new species of cone snail from New Ireland, Papua New Guinea (Gastropoda: Conidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 129, pp. 1-15 : 5-11

Conus (Splinoconus) hughmorrisoni sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:4105F23A-B87D-4D62-842A-476B9E889C24 Table 1 ; Figs 2–4 Etymology

This new species is named in honour of Hugh Morrison from Perth, Western Australia. He is a well known malacologist, shell dealer and pioneer scuba diver. He led the team of divers on board the MV PNG Explorer during the Kavieng Lagoon Biodiversity Survey. He is among the leading experts in Australian shells, and a dear friend of the first author.

Type material examined

Holotype and paratypes 1–5 are deposited in the MNHN.

Holotype

PAPUA NEW GUINEA: MNHN-IM- 2013 -53462, 20.4 mm, New Ireland, Kavieng Lagoon, E side of Wadei Island , 02°40.3’S, 150°39.1’E, 9–11 m deep (station KR70), Fig. 2A , BOLD ID CONO 1794 -15, GenBank accession number (COI sequence) KR070759 .

Paratypes

PAPUA NEW GUINEA: paratype 1, MNHN-IM- 2013 -53771, 13.25 mm, New Ireland, Kavieng Lagoon, NW point of Ungan Island, 02°38.8’S, 150°39.7’E, 3–12 m deep (station KR80), Fig. 2 B– C, BOLD ID CONO1793-15, GenBank accession number (COI sequence): KR070760 ; paratype 2, MNHN-IM-2013-53463, 12.55 mm, New Ireland, Kavieng Lagoon, E side of Wadei Island, 02°40.3’S, 150°39.1’E, 9–11 m deep (station KR70), Figs 2D , 3 A–B, BOLD ID CONO1795-15, GenBank accession number (COI sequence) KR070758 ; paratype 3, MNHN-IM-2013-53464, 16.5 mm, New Ireland, Kavieng Lagoon, E side of Wadei Island, 02°40.3’S, 150°39.1’E, 9–11 m deep (station KR70), Figs 2E , 3 C–F, BOLD ID CONO1796-15, GenBank accession number (COI sequence) KR070757 ; paratype 4, MNHN-IM-2013-53772, 10.8 mm, New Ireland, Kavieng Lagoon, NW point of Ungan Island, 02°38.8’S, 150°39.7’E, 3–12 m deep (station KR80), Fig. 2 F–G, BOLD ID CONO1792- 15, GenBank accession number (COI sequence) KR070761 ; paratype 5, MNHN-IM-2000-27955, 14.15 mm, New Ireland, Kavieng Lagoon, NW point of Ungan Island, 02°38.8’S, 150°39.7’E, 3–12 m deep (station KR70), Fig. 2H ; paratype 6, 21.6 mm, Nusaum Is., New Ireland, FL, Fig. 4A ; paratype 7, 19.0 mm, Ungan Is., New Ireland, FL, Fig. 4B ; paratype 8, 19.1 mm, Ungan Is., New Ireland, FL, Fig. 4C ; paratype 9, 19.6 mm, Wadei Is., New Ireland, FL, Fig. 4D ; paratype 10, 18.3 mm, Nusaum Is., New Ireland, FL, Fig. 4E ; paratype 11, 18.1 mm, Nusaum Is., New Ireland, Coll. Hugh Morrison, Fig. 4F .

Type locality

Papua New Guinea, New Ireland, Kavieng Lagoon, E side of Wadei Island, 02°40.3’S, 150°39.1’E, 9–11 m deep (station KR70).

Description

The shell of the holotype is rather small and lightweight. The last whorl is moderately broad and conical. The aperture is equally narrow throughout. The spire is pointed, acutely stepped, the outline very slightly concave.The suture is narrow and shallow.The protoconch is smooth, bulbous, of about 2 whorls, measuring about 0.55 mm in width. It is missing or strongly corroded in all specimens studied ( Fig. 2C ). The first two postnuclear whorls have no spiral grooves, and their shoulders are shallow and without discernible tubercles. There are three shallow incised striae on the postnuclear sutural ramps, and two to three broader, less distinct striae along the angle of the shoulder and below on the adapical end of the last whorl. The last adult whorl and the preceeding whorl show 15–17 prominent tubercles each ( Fig. 2G ); their interstices are deeply indented, also below the shoulder, dorsally on the last adult whorl, forming an undulating outline. The number of tubercles increases by one or two in the preceeding earlier whorls, gradually weakening, finally disappearing towards the protoconch. The shell seems glossy and smooth in the half below the spire, but there are regularly spaced, shallow, axially striate spiral grooves between spiral ribbons on its entire surface. These are enhanced by intermittent tubercles which gradually become more prominent and denser towards the abapical end, and directly above the lip. The anal notch is rounded and rather shallow.

The protoconch is pale yellow. The ground colour of the teleoconch is white, with purple on parts of the last whorl. The abapical end is stained with darker purple. The spire is white with occasionaly discrete brown axial lines. The last adult whorl shows irregular brown patches above a pale purple mid-dorsal area without darker pattern; these patches can eventually be connected to form an irregular spiral band. There are numerous, evenly spaced narrow spiral rows of white and brown dots. They appear as rows of white spots within the darker blotches and as discrete red-brown spots in the paler, unblotched areas. The tubercles on the spiral ribbons are white, which is especially obvious in the darker stained abapical end. The interior of the shell is purplish brown.

The paratypes agree with the holotype in all morphological aspects and show basically no variation in shape or the development of the spiral tubercles. In some specimens, the spiral grooves are less developed adapically. The coloration, however, varies considerably: in some specimens, the last adult whorl is rather rich purple and the darker stain of the abapical end is less obvious. The spire is generally white; darker dashes and lines are always discrete. The color of the darker dorsal blotches varies from orange to black. In most shells it is purplish brown, green in one specimen. The spiral rows of white and brown dots are reduced in the paler specimens. The darker blotches above the paler mid-dorsal zone can be fused to a compact dark band with irregular outline; in other specimens there are irregular axial flames in which the borders seem fringed by the white component of the axial lines.

The periostracum is reddish brown and thin. The animal has a brown foot with discrete yellow dashes, the crawling surface is pale brown ( Fig. 3 A–B). The edge of the transparent orange siphon is framed with black. The operculum is illustrated on Fig. 3C . The radular tooth is of the vermivorous kind, rather slender, and of small relative size (L/TL = 72) ( Fig. 3 C–F). The anterior portion is much shorter than the posterior section (TL/APL = 2.7–2.8). Waist evident. Apical barb present, opposing a rounded blade which covers most of the anterior portion of the tooth (100 BL/APL = 84 %). There are no denticles present in serration. Instead, there are 6–7 raised irregular marginal undulations arranged in one row, ending in a terminating cusp. These structures seem to correspond to precursors of denticles in a primitive serration (protoserration). Base axially elongated, with a small basal spur present, pointing upwards. Measurements of the shells are provided in Table 2 (abbreviations: L = shell length; TL = radular tooth length; APL = anterior portion length; BL = blade length).

Distribution and habitat

Conus hughmorrisoni sp. nov. is so far known only from a small area between Kavieng and New Hannover Island to the west of New Ireland, Papua New Guinea: east side of Wadei Island, 02°40.3’S, 150°39.1’E (Station KR70), at 9–11 m, on sand and rubble; NW point of Ungan Island, 02°38.8’S, 150°39.7’E (Station KR80), at 3–12 m, on flat sand and rubble slope with larger corals; S side of Nusaum Island, 02°38.381’S, 150°38.436’E, at 5–24 m, active coral reef 8–15 m, coarse rubble slope to gently sloping bottom at 21 m; NW side of Ral Island, 02°36.373’S, 150°38.518’E, at 4–25 m, slope with coral conglomerate ( Fig. 5 ). Further specimens have been collected in a similar habitat and depth in the vicinity of the islands of Wadei, Ungan and Nusaum.

Remarks

There are two species of Conidae which should be compared to Conus hughmorrisoni sp. nov.:

Conus (Phasmoconus) exiguus Lamarck, 1810 , a highly variable species known only from New Caledonia ( Fig. 6 A–D). Some of its formae can be similar to C. hughmorrisoni sp. nov. in shape, the tuberculate spire, and by having rows of spiral tubercles. Also, the general color pattern can be quite similar. However, the number of tubercles on the shoulder differs. In C. exiguus and its variations (e.g. the smaller form Conus cabritii Bernardi, 1858 ), there are 12 to 14 tubercles associated with the last adult whorl, in C. hughmorrisoni sp. nov. there are 15 to 17. The suture of C. exiguus is deeper and the incised sutural striae are more distinct, especially on the early postnuclear whorls. In C. exiguus , the pattern of the last adult whorl is continued on the spire, which hence is often dark blotched. The spire of C. hughmorrisoni sp. nov. is usually untinted or shows only discrete spots or lines. The darker patches of C. hughmorrisoni sp. nov. are crossed by the narrow spiral bands of white and dark brown intermittent spots that can be replaced, in some cases, by rows of irregular white dashes. The resulting effect caused by this banding, minute white specks within the darker blotches, and fine brown spots in the paler areas of the dorsum, give the pattern of C. hughmorrisoni sp. nov. a more delicate look.

Conus (Strategoconus) hanshassi (Lorenz & Barbier, 2012) , from Siargao Island in the Philipines, is so far known from only three specimens ( Fig. 6 E–F). It is somewhat narrower, with a taller spire. Like in C. exiguus , the number of tubercles (12–13) along the shoulder of the last adult whorl is lower than in C. hughmorrisoni sp. nov. The color pattern is compact, sparser and extends onto the spire in C. hanshassi , in which the narrow spiral bands of white and darker spots of C. hughmorrisoni sp. nov. are replaced by numerous fine brown spots arranged in spiral lines across the last adult whorl. As a consequence, the darker blotches of C. hanshassi do not show white specks as in C. hughmorrisoni sp. nov.

The ratios, based on measurements of the shells ( Table 2 ), do not show any differences between C. hughmorrisoni sp. nov., C. exiguus and C. hanshassi , except for the RSH ratio of C. hanshassi , which is slighlty higher than for both the other species, albeit based on only one specimen of C. hanshassi .

Figures

Fig. 2. Conus hughmorrisoni sp. nov. A. Holotype, 20.4 mm. B–C. Paratype 1, 13.25 mm. B. Teleoconch. C. Protoconch (scale bar = 0.5 mm). D. Paratype 2, 12.55 mm. E. Paratype 3, 16.5 mm. F–G. Paratype 4, 10.8 mm. F. Teleoconch. G. Top view. H. Paratype 5, 14.15 mm. All pictures by Manuel Caballer Gutierrez (credits project E-Recolnat, MNHN).

Fig. 3. Conus hughmorrisoni sp. nov. A–B. Paratype 2, 12.55 mm. C. Operculum of paratype 5. D–F. Radula of paratype 3.

Fig. 4. Conus hughmorrisoni sp. nov. A. Paratype 6, 20.8 mm. B. Paratype 7, 21.6 mm. C. Paratype 8, 19.0 mm. D. Paratype 9, 19.1 mm. E. Paratype 10, 19.6 mm. F. Paratype 11, 18.3 mm.

Fig. 5. Map of the Kavieng Region showing the different sampling sites. Black circles: stations with sequenced material; grey circles: stations with other material.

Fig. 6. A. Conus exiguus var. optimus Sowerby, 1913, 35.3 mm. Point Parme, New Caledonia. FL. B. Conus exiguus var. bougei Sowerby, 1907, 20.3 mm. Poum, N. New Caledonia. FL. C. Conus exiguus var. cabritii Bernardi, 1858, 22.0 mm. Northern New Caledonia. FL. D. Conus sp. cf. exiguus, 18.0 mm. Apia, Western Samoa. From Röckel et al. (1995), pl. 72, figs 14–15. E–F. Conus hanshassi (Lorenz & Barbier, 2012). E. 23.4 mm. Siargao Is., Philippines. Holotype, MNHN-IM-2000-24814. F. 22.9 mm. Siargao Is., Philippines. Paratype 1, FL.