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New
Caledonian Conus marmoreus complex
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Author : David Touitou & Serge
Rolland
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This
is a rather small complex compared to other ones like Conus magnificus-episcopatus.
But many of us get sometimes confused in front of some strange specimens.
Even if I do not buy shells, I usually watch the shell dealers' websites
to see what they offer to collectors and to dream on many beautiful
specimens. Many times the data associated to the shell is not correct
and especially with Conus marmoreus New Caledonian variations.
That's why I hope that after reading this short article, you will
have no more problem to identify any variation of this species.
Conus marmoreus is night and day mollusc hunter. It feeds on
many gasteropods including Cone Shells. This shallow water species
lives in grass fields or coral fragments areas. Big specimens can
be found in sand pockets (even small ones among live corals) on the
reef. |
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Two
Conus marmoreus attacking a Conus bullatus
(New Caledonia)
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Here
are some pictures from a live
Conus marmoreus
(in M. Rolland Aquarium)
A. ICONOGRAPHY
OF THE DIFFERENTS VARIATIONS FROM NEW CALEDONIA
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Conus
marmoreus
"classic specimens"
Linné, 1758
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Conus
marmoreus
"bastard"
Linné, 1758
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Conus
marmoreus
f. crosseanus
Bernardi, 1861
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Conus
marmoreus
f. crosseanus var. lineata
Crosse, 1878
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Conus
marmoreus
f. suffusus
Sowerby III, 1870
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Conus
marmoreus
f. suffusus var.
noumeensis
Crosse, 1872
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Conus
marmoreus
"orange variation"
Linné, 1758
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Conus
marmoreus
f. pseudomarmoreus
Crosse, 187?
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B. DETAILED
INFORMATIONS ABOUT THE DIFFERENT VARIATIONS FROM NEW CALEDONIA
| Conus
marmoreus Linné,
1758 "classic
specimens" |
Ccollected
in the North |
This
is a classic species from the Pacific Ocean.
Like many other cone shells species, it may vary a lot. The pattern
is black and has a lot of white triangles that usually are separated
from each other by the black color of the pattern. The triangles,
unlike in the
Conus magnificus-episcopatus complex, are very similar between
themselves by their shape and their size. They are rarely confluent.
They may sometimes, like many other species, have partially unusual
pattern and triangle colors like the blue color (like Conus canonicus).
In the south we can find some "hybrids" between the usual
variation and the crosseanus one.
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Collected
in the North-West |
| Conus
marmoreus Linné,
1758 "bastard" |
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This
variation is endemic to the Bourail Region. The shells are smaller
there now. They used to have normal size in the past but they are
too often collected and cannot reach big sizes anymore...
These are "hybrids" between usual Conus marmoreus
and Conus marmoreus f. suffusus. Some have just huge confluent
white triangles an some have just few black marks on their pattern.
Those are really beautiful specimens.
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| Conus
marmoreus f. suffusus
Sowerby
III, 1870 |
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This
variation is endemic to the Bourail Region. The shells are smaller
there, like the "bastards" ones. They are made of pure
white color with pink or light yellow tint. Black spots, dots or
lines are not present anymore.
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| Conus
marmoreus f.
suffusus var.
noumeensis Crosse,
1872 |
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This
form concern white spcimens wich were found in the south of the
island. In fact they are just albinistic specimens of Conus marmoreus
species.
Their size is then bigger than the Conus marmoreus f. suffusus
speciemns from Bourail as they are related to the classic Conus
marmoreus.
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| Conus
marmoreus f.
crosseanus Bernardi,
1861 |
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This
variation is endemic from Pine Island.
The dark pattern has many axial dark lines, the white triangles
are less visible and less numerous. It makes really dark specimens
wich contrast a lot with Conus marmoreus f. suffusus.
A yellow to blue tint can exist on some specimens though. The size
correspond to usual Conus marmoreus species.
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| Conus
marmoreus f.
crosseanus var. lineata Crosse,
1878 |
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This
variation is endemic from Pine Island. It differs from the Conus
marmoreus f. crosseanus by the presence of one to several
spiral line crossing the pattern of the shell. They can be large
of very thin.
The spiral lines can be colored with white, light blue,
light yellow or light yellow-orange. When several lines are present
on a specimen, they may have different color.
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| Conus
marmoreus
"orange variation" Linné,
1758 |
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This
variation is endemic from Pine Island. This variation differs a
lot from Conus marmoreus by it's pattern color wich is orange
instead of black. It is a very nice variation wich is very rare
though.
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| Conus
marmoreus
f. pseudomarmoreus Crosse,
187? |
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This
variation refers to uncrowned specimens.
Nothing really incredible. Just some anormal specimens of Conus
marmoreus with smooth spire instead of the usual crowned one.
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| Conus
marmoreus Linné,
1758 strange
specimen |
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