Conomurex luhuanus

Conomurex luhuanus, commonly known as the strawberry conch or tiger conch, is a species of medium-sized sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Strombidae, the true conchs. C. luhuanus is found in sandy habitat among corals in the Indopacific region. They feed on algae or detritus, move with a modified foot, and have complex eyes compared to other gastropods. The shell of C. luhuanus ranges from a more common length of 5 cm, to a maximum length of 8 cm. C. luhuanus is often mistaken for a cone snail, mainly because of the conoidal outline of its shell, which is relatively unusual among the Strombidae. Its stromboid notch, though not as conspicuous as observed in many species that used to belong to Strombus (such as Lentigo lentiginosus), is deep and easily distinguished. The interior may be slightly lirate. The external color of the shell can be either white with an orange, brown/tan pattern of blotches, or completely brown/white. The interior is usually colored strong orange, red or pink, and the inner lip border is black or chocolate brown. The phylogenetic relationships among the Strombidae have been mainly accessed on two occasions, by Simone (2005) and Latiolais (2006), using two distinct methods. Simone proposed a cladogram (a tree of descent) based on an extensive morpho-anatomical analysis of representatives of Aporrhaidae, Strombidae, Xenophoridae and Struthiolariidae, which included C. luhuanus. With the exception of Lambis and Terebellum, the remaining taxa were previously allocated within the genus Strombus, including C. luhuanus. However, according to Simone, only Strombus gracilior, Strombus alatus and Strombus pugilis, the type species, remained within Strombus, as they constituted a distinct group based on at least five synapomorphies (traits that are shared by two or more taxa and their most recent common ancestor). The remaining taxa were previously considered as subgenera, and were elevated to genus level by Simone in the end of his analysis. The genus Conomurex, in this case, only included C.