Virgin Cone

Conus virgo is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Conidae, the cone snails and their allies.^[2]

These snails are predatory and venomous. They are capable of "stinging" humans, therefore live ones should be handled carefully or not at all.

Varieties

• Conus virgo var. alba Spalowsky, 1795: synonym of Conus virgo Linnaeus, 1758
• Conus virgo var. fasciata Menke, 1828: synonym of Conus lividus Hwass in Bruguière, 1792

Description

The size of the shell varies between 50 mm and 151 mm. The solid shell is rounded below the shoulder-angle. The spire is flatly convex, slightly striate throughout, more distinctly at the base. The color of the shell is pale yellowish brown, tinged with violet at the base.^[3]

Distribution

This marine species occurs in the Red Sea and in the tropical Indo-West Pacific off Tanzania, Madagascar, Aldabra, Chagos, the Mascarene Islands; India, the Philippines and Australia (Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia).

References

• Linnaeus, C. (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentius Salvius: Holmiae. ii, 824 pp Archived 13 June 2017 at the Wayback Machine
• Reeve, L.A. 1843. Monograph of the genus Conus. pls 1–39 in Reeve, L.A. (ed.). Conchologica Iconica. London : L. Reeve & Co. Vol. 1.
• Demond, J. 1957. Micronesian reef associated gastropods. Pacific Science 11(3): 275–341, fig. 2, pl. 1
• Cotton, B.C. 1964. Molluscs of Arnhem Land. Records of the American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land 4 (Zoology): 9–43
• Wilson, B.R. & Gillett, K. 1971. Australian Shells: illustrating and describing 600 species of marine gastropods found in Australian waters. Sydney : Reed Books 168 pp. [
• Salvat, B. & Rives, C. 1975. Coquillages de Polynésie. Tahiti : Papéete Les editions du pacifique, pp. 1–391.
• Cernohorsky, W.O. 1978. Tropical Pacific Marine Shells. Sydney : Pacific Publications 352 pp., 68 pls.
• Wilson, B. 1994. Australian Marine Shells. Prosobranch Gastropods. Kallaroo, WA : Odyssey Publishing Vol. 2 370 pp.
• Röckel, D., Korn, W. & Kohn, A.J. 1995. Manual of the Living Conidae. Volume 1: Indo-Pacific Region. Wiesbaden : Hemmen 517 pp.
• Higo, S., Callomon, P. & Goto, Y. 1999. Catalogue and Bibliography of the Marine Shell-bearing Mollusca of Japan. Japan : Elle Scientific Publications 749 pp.
• Puillandre, N.; Duda, T.F.; Meyer, C.; Olivera, B.M.; Bouchet, P. (2015). "One, four or 100 genera? A new classification of the cone snails". Journal of Molluscan Studies. 81 (1): 1–23. doi:10.1093/mollus/eyu055. PMC 4541476. PMID 26300576.

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  Conus virgo Linnaeus, C., 1758

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  Conus virgo Linnaeus, C., 1758

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  Conus virgo Linnaeus, C., 1758

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  Conus virgo Linnaeus, C., 1758