Conus aulicus Linnaeus, 1758

Franklin, J. Benjamin, Subramanian, K. A., Fernando, S. Antony & Krishnan, K. S., 2009, 2250, Zootaxa 2250, pp. 1-63 : 21

9. Conus aulicus Linnaeus, 1758 (Figure 10)

Conus aulicus Linnaeus, 1758: 717 , no. 279 (lectotype, MSNP (91 x 36 mm) ( Kohn 1963); "Asia" corrected to Moluccas, " Indonesia ").

Conus auratus Hwass in Bruguière, 1792: 740–741, no. 134 (lectotype, MHNG (106 x 49 mm) ( Kohn 1968); " Ocèan Indien ").

Cucullus aurifer Röding, 1798: 49 , no. 634 (representation of lectotype, Knorr 1768: pl. 19, fig. 1 (84 x 33 mm) (Kohn 1975); locality unknown).

Conus particolo r Perry, 1810: pl. 39 (representation of holotype, Perry 1810: pl. 39 (119 x 49 mm) ( Rockel et al. 1995); locality unknown).

Conus gracianus da Motta & Blocher, 1982: 16–17 , figs. 15a, b (holotype, MHNG (44 x 15 mm) ( Röckel et al. 1995); "at the fringes of the Grand Recif towards the open sea of Tulear, South West Madagascar ").

Conus aulicus var. aurantia “Lamarck” Dautzenberg, 1937: 36 (representation of lectotype, n Knorr 1764: pl. 1, fig. 1 (64 x 27 mm) ( Coomans et al. 1981); locality unknown).

Conus aulicus propenudus Melvill, 1900: 310 (holotype, NMWC (88 x 40 mm) ( Röckel et al. 1995); locality unkown).

Material examined: MBMCS 109 , 2 specimens, SL 110–148 mm; SW 52–74 mm .

Description. Shell moderately solid to heavy. Body whorl broadly fusiform, outline straight.

Shoulder rounded. Spire of moderate height; outline straight. Body whorl with fine, closely spaced spiral ribs on basal fourth to third. Aperture wider at base; outer lip thick.

Ground colour white. Body whorl with irregular reddish brown and tan blotches separated by large white tents that tend to form three spiral bands, one below the shoulder, one at centre and one above the base. Aperture yellowish pink; outer lip creamy yellow.

Distribution. Röckel et al. (1995) reported C. aulicus from Rameswaram.

The specimens reported herein were collected from Keelakarai ( Table 6) by trawling in 20–50 m and diving in 12 m on coral rubble substratum.

Remarks. The occurrence of living specimens at shallow depths agrees with Kohn’s (2001) observation. Of the two specimens collected, one was larger (148 mm) than previous reported specimen (99 mm) from Rameswaram ( Röckel et al. 1995).