Conus mappa is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Conidae, the cone snails and their allies.

There are two recognized subspecies:

  • Conus mappa jesusramirezi (Cossignani, 2010)
  • Conus mappa trinitarius Hwass in Bruguière, 1792.
  • Conus mappa granarius Kiener, 1845.: synonym of Conus granarius

The junior homonym Conus mappa Crosse, 1858 is a synonym of Conus eldredi Morrison, 1955.

Like all species within the genus Conus, these snails are predatory and venomous. They are capable of stinging humans, therefore live ones should be handled carefully or not at all.

Description

The size of the wide shell varies between 36 mm and 67 mm. The spire contains small nodules and has a smooth shoulder. The body whorl is smooth and has a very variable color pattern of milkish white to pinkish white with two spiral bands of greenish yellow to darker brown. These bands are broken into irregular patches. The spiral whorls show very fine longitudinal grooves. The aperture is whitish.

Distribution

This species occurs in the Caribbean Sea off Venezuela, Trinidad - and Barbados where it occurs only at 85 fathoms (155 metres) depth

  • Holeman J; and Kohn A.J. (1970), The identity of Conus mappa (Lightfoot), C. insularis Gmelin, C. aurantius Hwass in Bruguière and Hwass's infraspecific taxa of C. cedonulii; Journal of Conchology 27 135:137
  • Tucker J.K. & Tenorio M.J. (2013) Illustrated catalog of the living cone shells. 517 pp. Wellington, Florida: MdM Publishing.

Gallery

  • Conus mappa trinitarius Hwass in Bruguière, J.G., 1792
  • Conus mappa trinitarius Hwass in Bruguière, J.G., 1792

External links

  • . Gastropods.com.
  • . Gastropods.com.