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Concept
Conidae
Summary
Conidae, with the current common name of "cone snails", is a taxonomic family (previously subfamily) of predatory sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Conoidea.
The 2014 classification of the superfamily Conoidea, groups only cone snails in the family Conidae. Some previous classifications grouped the cone snails in a subfamily, Coninae.
As of March 2015 Conidae contained over 800 recognized species. Working in 18th-century Europe, Carl Linnaeus knew of only 30 species that are still considered valid.
The snails within this family are sophisticated predatory animals. They hunt and immobilize prey using a modified radular tooth along with a venom gland containing neurotoxins; the tooth is launched out of the snail's mouth in a harpoon-like action.
Because all cone snails are venomous and capable of "stinging" humans, live ones should be handled with great care or preferably not at all.
In the Journal of Molluscan Studies, in 2014, Puillandre, Duda, Meyer, Olivera & Bouchet presented a new classification for the old genus Conus. Using 329 species, the authors carried out molecular phylogenetic analyses. The results suggested that the authors should place all living cone snails in a single family, Conidae, containing the following genera:
Californiconus J. K. Tucker & Tenorio, 2009
Conasprella Thiele, 1929
† Conilithes Swainson, 1840
† Contraconus Olsson & Harbison, 1953
Conus Linnaeus, 1758
† Eoconus J. K. Tucker & Tenorio, 2009
† Hemiconus Cossmann, 1889
† Herndliconus Petuch & Drolshagen, 2015
Kenyonia Brazier, 1896
Lilliconus G. Raybaudi Massilia, 1994
Malagasyconus Monnier & Tenorio, 2015
† Papilliconus Tracey & Craig, 2017
Profundiconus Kuroda, 1956
Pseudolilliconus J. K. Tucker & Tenorio, 2009
Pygmaeconus Puillandre & Tenorio, 2017
† Tequestaconus Petuch & Drolshagen, 2015 †
The authors grouped 85% of all known cone snail species under Conus. They recognized 57 subgenera within Conus, and 11 subgenera within the genus Conasprella.
Prior to 1993, the family Conidae contained only Conus species.
Official source
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