Common Name

Unkown

Status

Regarded as a valid species.

Type Locality

Masirah Island, Sur/Umm Rasas, Oman

Distribution

Masirah Island, Oman

Maximum Reported Size

13 mm

Description

Very small and light. Last whorl usually broadly conical, outline convex; left side concave basally. Shoulder angulate to carinate. Spire of moderate height to high, stepped; outline straight to slightly concave. Larval shell of 1.75-2 whorls, maximum diameter 0.9-1 mm. Teleoconch sutural ramps concave, with 1 increasing to 3 obsolete spiral grooves in early whorls, spiral sculpture not traceable in late whorls. Last whorl with spiral ribs on basal third.

Ground colour white. Last whorl with an interrupted to solid, yellowish to blackish brown or olive spiral band at base and within adapical third; colour zones sometimes also axially arranged. Light subcentral band with a meshwork of pale grey background shades, edged with yellowish to dark brown spots; sometimes spirally aligned dark spots extending from base to shoulder. Dotted to dashed brown spiral lines from basal third to subshoulder area or restricted to subcentral area, partially with intermittent white dashes. Larval shell bicoloured: Initial part white, with a yellowish brown pre-sutural zone; remaining part grading to solid yellowish brown. Postnuclear sutural ramps with light to dark brown radial blotches crossing outer margins. Aperture showing exterior pattern.

Periostracum thin, translucent, with fine fringes on shoulder.

Radular teeth stout basally and narrow adapically mostly not enrolled except for base where the margins of the chitin sheet are overlapping. Adapical part rounded at tip and of spongy surface-structure, with 3 barbs that are broadening and membraneous proximally; anterior barb bar-shaped and blunt, posterior barb triangular and pointed, middle barb intermediate in shape. Serration and basal spur absent (Rolán & G. Raybaudi, in press). Function of such a tooth aberrant in shape within the genus Conus (open canal instead of enrolled tube) requires new hypotheses.

Shell Morphometry

L	9-13 mm
RW	-0.02 g/mm (10-11 mm)
RD	0.70-0.77
PMD	0.84-0.93
RSH	0.22-0.28

Habitat & Habits

From 0.1 m below low tide level to about 6 m.

Discussion

C. boschorum is very similar to C. biraghii and C. korni. C. b. biraghii differs in its lower spire (RSH 0.12-0.19) and its often more ventricose last whorl (PMD 0.77-0.91); the weak spiral grooves below the shoulder of C. b. biraghii are absent in adult specimens of C. boschorum. C. b. omanensis has an often narrower last whorl (RD 0.61-0.74) with 1-2 spiral grooves below shoulder, a narrower (0.8 vs. 0.9-1) and more contrastingly bicoloured larval shell with fine radial ridges, and flat rather than concave teleoconch sutural ramps with distinct spiral grooves also in late whorls. C. b. congruens is distinguished by its narrower (0.8 mm) larval shell with distinct fine radial ridges and more strongly contrasting colours, its 1-2 spiral grooves below shoulder, and the prominent spiral sculpture on its early teleoconch sutural ramps. C. korni has more larval whorls (2.25-2.5) with fine radial ridges, a lower spire (RSH 0.13-0.24), pronounced spiral grooves on the early teleoconch sutural ramps, and 1-2 weak spiral grooves below shoulder.

References

• Apex 8 (1-2): p. 19, figs 1 – 6 & 17.