Conus (Rhizoconus) alisii Moolenbeek, Röckel & Richard, 1995

Common Name

Status

Regarded as a valid species.

Type Locality

Norfolk Ridge New Caledonia (23 deg 18 min S. 168 deg 05 min E); 330-367 m

Distribution

South Africa

Maximum Reported Size

30 mm

Description

Small shell, low biconic, slightly pyriform, fragile. Colour of protoconch opaque white.

Teleoconch concists of 6.0 whorls, spire slightly stepped. First teleoconch whorl with two spiral grooves gradually increasing to 3 on the last whorl; grooves rather strong. Whorls slightly stepped with a strong, smooth adapical rim above suture. Outline of the spire slightly convex. Body whorl slightly pyriform with about 11 spiral grooves at the base. Sculpture smooth with very fine hardly visible spiral striae. Aperture straight , rather wide, outer lip thin. Colour light violet-grey, with about 18 spiral rows of very fine brown spots; paratypes are often pure white but sometimes light orange with irregular and cloudy white and brown spots; often also with spiral lines of brown dots.in the middle an irregular band of white and brown cloudy blotches. Smaller white blotches are situated on the upper part. Shoulder rim white, with 12 brown spots. These sopts are also visible on the earlier whorls.

Discussion

C. alisii is very similar to C. dayriti and can be distinguished mainly by its larger and different coloured (white with a brown blotch vs light brown) protoconch, slightly stepped spire whorls, stronger spiral grooves on spire whorls, and its often pure white colouration.

References

Röckel, D., Richard, G., and Moolenbeek, R. G., 1995. Deep Water Cones (Gastropoda: Conidae) from the New Caledonia Region. Mémoires du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle. Série A, Zoologie, 167.