Varioconus reticulatus ( Born, 1778 ) 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 : 72

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.5852/ejt.2020.663
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:78E7049C-F592-4D01-9D15-C7715119B584
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/AE38686E-301E-FFC1-FE0A-FDE0FE610FFC
treatment provided by	Valdenar
scientific name	Varioconus reticulatus ( Born, 1778 )
status	comb. nov.

Treatment

Varioconus reticulatus ( Born, 1778) View in CoL comb. nov.

Fig. 11 View Fig H–I

Conus reticulatus Born, 1778: 139 View in CoL .

Conus mercator View in CoL (not C. mercator Linnaeus, 1758 View in CoL ) – Monteiro et al. 2004: pls 29–32.

Material examined

Lectotype

“ AFRICA ” • 25 mm; NHMW Mollusca 14159 ( Fig. 11H View Fig ).

Other material

SENEGAL • 1 spec., 29.5 mm; NGor , Dakar; 14º45ʹ6ʺ N, 17º30ʹ35ʺ W; 1 Jul. 2015; MNCN exped.; GenBank mitochondrion, partial genome: KY801862 View Materials ; MNCN 15.05/78439 ( Fig. 11I View Fig ) GoogleMaps • 1 spec.; Ndayane, Petite Côte ; 14º33ʹ59ʺ N, 17º8ʹ3ʺ W; 2 Jul. 2015; MNCN exped.; GenBank mitochondrion, partial genome: KY801858 View Materials ; MNCN 15.05/78462 GoogleMaps .

Geographical distribution

Senegal (Dakar area, Petite Côte).

Conservation status in IUCN Red List

Not evaluated.

Remarks

The taxon Conus reticulatus Born, 1778 had been traditionally synonymized with Conus mercator Linnaeus, 1758 ( Monteiro et al. 2004; Filmer 2011; Tucker & Tenorio 2013). The phylogenetic analyses suggest that V. reticulatus actually is a valid species, distinct from V. mercator and sister to V. belairensis ( Abalde et al. 2017b) . Varioconus mercator and V. reticulatus also differ in radular tooth morphology. A separation of V. reticulatus and V. mercator based upon the shell pattern only is not always accurate, and may eventually require confirmation by DNA or radular morphology analysis. Specimens collected along Petite Côte near Ndayane and initially identified as juveniles of V. mercator form cacao turned out to be V. reticulatus .