Varioconus guanche (Lauer, 1993) Tenorio & Abalde & Pardos-Blas & Cmim, 2020

Tenorio, Manuel J., Abalde, Samuel, Pardos-Blas, José R. & Zardoya, Rafael, 2020, Taxonomic revision of West African cone snails (Gastropoda: Conidae) based upon mitogenomic studies: implications for conservation, European Journal of Taxonomy 663 (663), pp. 1-89 : 68-69

Varioconus guanche (Lauer, 1993) comb. nov.

Fig. 10K

Conus guanche Lauer, 1993a: 37 , figs 3–5.

Conus guanche nitens Lauer, 1993a: 39 , figs 6–8.

Lautoconus saharicus Petuch & Berschauer, 2016: 95 , fig. 2.

Conus guanche – Monteiro et al. 2004: 50, pls 8–13.

Material examined

Holotype

SPAIN – Canary Islands • 34 mm; Tenerife, Punta Blanca, Los Gigantes ; MNHN IM-2000-2553 ( Fig. 10K )

Other material

SPAIN – Canary Islands • 1 spec.; Lanzarote, Playa del Cable ; 16º41ʹ44ʺ N, 22º58ʹ35ʺ W; Apr. 2014; MNCN exped.; GenBank mitochondrion, partial genome: KY801847 ; MNCN/ADN 91295 .

Geographical distribution

Canary Islands (absent in the western islands), southern Morocco, West Sahara and Mauritania.

Conservation status in IUCN Red List

Least concern.

Remarks

Until its introduction as a new species by Lauer (1993a), there was a large confusion regarding certain populations of cones present in the Canary Islands, referred to as ventricosus, guinaicus or desidiosus ( Bandel & Wils 1977; Coomans et al. 1985b; Raybaudi 1992). The taxon Lautoconus desidiosus (A. Adams, 1853) is nowadays considered a form of L. ventricosus ( Filmer 2011) or a separate species ( Monteiro et al. 2004; WoRMS, accessed March 2020) depending on the author, but in any case is restricted to the Mediterranean Sea and neighboring Atlantic and is not a West African species. In the phylogeny, V. guanche appears deeply nested within the Varioconus clade together with Senegal endemics and is only distantly related to L. ventricosus . It is indeed sister to the species V. unifasciatus , and close to V. guinaicus ( Abalde et al. 2017b) . The non-planktonic development of V. guanche supposedly limits its capacity of dispersal, resulting in populations having characteristic shell colors and patterns. However, phylogenetic studies focused on V. guanche showed no differentiation of the species within the Canary Islands or between the archipelago and the western African coast indicating recurrent gene flow ( Cunha et al. 2014). These findings clearly indicate that the recently introduced taxon Lautoconus saharicus Petuch & Berschauer, 2016 represents the local form of V. guanche from Dahkla Bay, Western Sahara. It lacks taxonomical value and must be considered a junior synonym. The name nitens, initially introduced as a subspecies of V. guanche , is applied to high-spired shells typically from Lanzarote. However, typical V. guanche and high-spired individuals co-occur, hence the separation at subspecific level seems unjustified and nitens represents a synonym (form) of V. guanche .

Figures

Fig. 10 (opposite page). A. Conus ambiguus Reeve, 1844, neotype, 39.3 mm (NBC). B. Conus bellocqae van Rossum, 1996,paratype,60 mm(F.Gubbiolicoll.,Marbella, Spain).C. Monteiroconustabidus (Reeve, 1844), 33.6 mm (MNCN 15.05/78864). D. Conus belairensis Pin & Leung Tack in Pin, 1989, holotype, 36.7 mm (MNHN IM-2000-32668). E. Varioconus bruguieresi (Kiener, 1846) comb. nov., 32.1 mm (MNCN 15.05/78497). F. Varioconus cloveri (Walls, 1978) comb. nov., 23.2 mm (MNCN 15.05/78457). G. Varioconus echinophilus (Petuch, 1975b) comb. nov., 22.0. mm (MNCN 15.05/90430). H. Conus franciscanus Hwass in Bruguière, 1792, lectotype, 56.6 mm (MHNG-MOLL-52625). I. Varioconus franciscanus (Hwass in Bruguière, 1792) comb. nov., 53.6 mm (MNCN 15.05/78491). J. Varioconus franciscanus f. hybridus (Kiener, 1847), 40.0 mm (MNCN 15.05/78427). K. Conus guanche Lauer, 1993, holotype, 34.0 mm (MNHN IM-2000-2553). L. Conus guinaicus Hwass in Bruguière, 1792, lectotype, 43.0 mm (MHNG-MOLL-52638). M. Varioconus guinaicus (Hwass in Bruguière, 1792) comb. nov., 50.2 mm (MNCN 15.05/78443). N. Lautoconus wolof Petuch & Berschauer, 2018, holotype, 21.1 mm (MNHN IM-2000-34015). O. Conus pineaui Pin & Leung Tack in Pin, 1989, holotype, 28.7 mm (MNHN IM-2000-2528). P. Conus dorotheae Monnier & Limpalaër, 2010, holotype, 26.8 mm (MNHN IM-2009-8702). Scale bars = 10 mm.