Asprella

Asprella
Apertural view of a shell of Asprella inscripta (Reeve, 1843), equivalent to Conus inscriptus Reeve, 1843
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
(unranked):	clade Caenogastropoda clade Hypsogastropoda clade Neogastropoda
Superfamily:	Conoidea
Family:	Conidae
Subfamily:	Puncticuliinae
Genus:	Asprella Schaufuss, 1869
Synonyms[1]
Cylindrella Swainson, 1840 Sulciconus Bielz, 1869

Asprella was a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Conidae, the cone snails and their allies.^[1]

In the new classification of the family Conidae by Puillandre N., Duda T.F., Meyer C., Olivera B.M. & Bouchet P. (2015), Asprella has become a subgenus of Conus: Conus (Asprella) Monterosato, 1923 (type species: Conus asper Lamarck, 1810 ) represented as Conus Thiele, 1929 ^[2]

Distinguishing characteristics

The Tucker & Tenorio 2009 taxonomy distinguishes Asprella from Conus in the following ways:^[3]

• Genus Conus, sensu stricto, Linnaeus, 1758

Shell characters (living and fossil species)

The basic shell shape is conical to elongated conical, has a deep anal notch on the shoulder, a smooth periostracum and a small operculum. The shoulder of the shell is usually nodulose and the protoconch is usually multispiral. Markings often include the presence of tents except for black or white color variants, with the absence of spiral lines of minute tents and textile bars.

Radular tooth (not known for fossil species)

The radula has an elongated anterior section with serrations and a large exposed terminating cusp, a non-obvious waist, blade is either small or absent and has a short barb, and lacks a basal spur.

Geographical distribution:

These species are found in the Indo-Pacific region.

Feeding habits:

These species eat other gastropods, including cones.^[3]

• Genus Asprella, Schaufuss, 1869

Shell characters (living and fossil species)

The protoconch is multispiral, the body ornamentation reaches the shoulder of the shell or dissipates in the midbody region, and there are nodules on at least the early whorls. The shell has as a deep anal notch. The periostracum is smooth however in some species there are minute hairs, and the operculum is small.

Radular tooth (not known for fossil species)

The anterior section of the radula is approximately the same length as the posterior section but in some species one section may be longer than the other. The blade is long and extends between one-third and two-thirds the length of the anterior section of the radular tooth. A basal spur is present, and the barb is short.

Geographical distribution:

These species are found throughout the Indo-Pacific region to and including Australia.

Feeding habits:

These species are vermivorous (i.e. they prey on marine worms).^[3]

Species list

This list of species is based on the information in the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) list. Species within the genus Aspella include:^[1]

The following species names are recognized as "alternate representations" (see full explanation below) in contrast to the traditional system, which uses the genus Conus for all species in the family:^[1]

Significance of "alternative representation"

Prior to 2009, all species within the family Conidae were placed in one genus Conus. In 2009 however, J.K. Tucker and M.J. Tenorio proposed a classification system for the over 600 recognized species that were in the family. Their classification proposed 3 distinct families and 82 genera for the living species of cone snails. This classification was based upon shell morphology, radular differences, anatomy, physiology, cladistics, with comparisons to molecular (DNA) studies.^[3] Published accounts of genera within the Conidae that include the genus Asprella include J.K. Tucker & M.J. Tenorio (2009), and Bouchet et al. (2011).^[4]

Testing in order to try to understand the molecular phylogeny of the Conidae was initially begun by Christopher Meyer and Alan Kohn,^[5] and is continuing, particularly with the advent of nuclear DNA testing in addition to mDNA testing.

However, in 2011, some experts still prefer to use the traditional classification, where all species are placed in Conus within the single family Conidae: for example, according to the current November 2011 version of the World Register of Marine Species, all species within the family Conidae are in the genus Conus. The binomial names of species in the 82 cone snail genera listed in Tucker & Tenorio 2009 are recognized by the World Register of Marine Species as "alternative representations."^[6] Debate within the scientific community regarding this issue continues, and additional molecular phylogeny studies are being carried out in an attempt to clarify the issue.^{[3][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]}

In 2015, in the Journal of Molluscan Studies, 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 cone snails in a single family, Conidae, containing four genera: Conus, Conasprella, Profundiconus and Californiconus. The authors group 85% of all known cone snail species under Conus, They recognize 57 subgenera within Conus, and 11 subgenera within the genus Conasprella.^[2]

References

Further reading

• Kohn A. A. (1992). Chronological Taxonomy of Conus, 1758-1840". Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington and London.
• Monteiro A. (ed.) (2007). The Cone Collector 1: 1-28.
• Berschauer D. (2010). Technology and the Fall of the Mono-Generic Family The Cone Collector 15: pp. 51-54
• Puillandre N., Meyer C.P., Bouchet P., and Olivera B.M. (2011), Genetic divergence and geographical variation in the deep-water Conus orbignyi complex (Mollusca: Conoidea), Zoologica Scripta 40(4) 350-363.

External links

Wikispecies has information related to: Conus (Asprella)

• "Conidae". National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). 
• To World Register of Marine Species
• Gastropods.com: Conidae setting forth the genera recognized therein.
• Cone Shells - Knights of the Sea