Common Name

"Goldleaf Cone"

Status

Regarded as a valid species.

Type Locality

Not known, designated (Coomans, Moolenbeek & Wils) Island of Amboina (Ambon), Indonesia

Distribution

Moluccas, Sulawesi, and Philippines south of Mindanao

Maximum Reported Size

95,2 mm

Description

Medium-sized to large, solid. Last whorl ventricosely conical or conical; outline convex at adapical fourth, almost straight below. Shoulder sharply angulate. Spire usually of moderate height, outline straight to convex, apex domed. Larval shell of about 2.5 whorls, maximum diameter 0.7-0.8 mm. First 4-6 postnuclear whorls tuberculate. Teleoconch sutural ramps concave, to deeply concave in late whorls, with 3-4 increasing to 5-8 sometimes weak spiral grooves. Last whorl with rather evenly spaced spiral ribs on basal third, or extending to adapical part.

Ground colour white, variably suffused with pink. Last whorl usually with 2-3 variably broad, pinkish brown spiral bands. Spiral rows of alternating white dashes and reddish to blackish brown dots, dashes and bars from base to shoulder; rows variable in size and number of brown markings. Base yellow. Apex immaculate white. Late sutural ramps largely light pinkish violet, usually with sparse brown blotches, occasionally with sparse white blotches; outer and inner margins of late sutural ramps barred with blackish brown. Aperture white or pale pink.

Periostracum pale yellow, thin, translucent, smooth.

Radular teeth reported to be relatively long (shell/tooth-ratio 11:1), with 2 small barbs and a long backward-pointing, distally recurved third barb at the apex; neither serration nor basal spur present (James, 1980).

Shell Morphometry

L	45-95 mm
RW	0.24-0.46 g/mm
RD
PMD	0.81-0.87
RSH	0.10-0.16

Habitat & Habits

In 20-80 m; Cernohorsky (1978) reports an intertidal occurrence. Structure of radular teeth suggests piscivory.

Discussion

C. aurisiacus closely resembles C.circumcisus, which can be distinguished by its distinctly narrower (RD 0.44-0.57) and more cylindrical last whorl, its subangulate to rounded rather than sharply angulate shoulder and by its less concave sutural ramps with a less pronounced spiral sculpture.

References

• Syst. Nat. 10th ed. (1): p. 716, no. 275, not figured.