Conasprella orbignyi Audouin 1831, sensu stricto
Creators: name: Helwerda, Enate A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Mollusca
Gastropoda
Neogastropoda
Conidae
Conasprella
Conasprella orbignyi

description: Conasprella orbignyi (Audouin, 1831) sensu stricto
(Figure 1–2)
1831 Conus orbignyi nov. spec.—Audouin: p. 20, pl. 20, figs. 1–2.
1935 Conus d’orbignyi Andouin, 1831—Nomura: p. 108, pl. VII, fig. 1.
1982 Conus orbignyi Audouin, 1831 —Ladd: p. 78, pl. 28, figs. 3–4.
1988 “ Conus ” orbignyi (Audouin) —Noda: pl. 10, fig. 22.
1995 Conus orbignyi orbignyi Audouin, 1831 —Röckel, Korn & Kohn: p. 264–265, pl. 56, figs. 1–4. 1999 a Conus orbignyi— Kohn & Arua: p. 121.
1999b Conus orbignyi Audouin—Kohn & Arua: p 27.
2000 Conus (Asprella) orbignyi Audouin, 1831 —Hori: p. 613, pl. 305, fig. 131. 2009 Bathyconus orbignyi (Audouin, 1831) —Tucker & Tenorio: p. 138, pl. 9, fig. 5 & pl. XIII, figs. 4–6. 2011 Conus orbignyi Audouin, 1831 —Puillandre et al.: figs. 5A & 6Q–W. 2013 Bathyconus orbignyi (Audouin, 1831) —Tucker & Tenorio: p. 305. 2015 Conasprella (Fusiconus) orbignyi (Audouin, 1831) —Puillandre et al.: p. 5.
2. Conasprella orbignyi (Audouin, 1831). RGM 1008311. Locality Anda1.
3. Conasprella cf. pseudorbignyi (Röckel & Lan, 1981). RGM 1008316. Locality Anda6. 4. Conasprella sieboldii (Reeve, 1848). RGM 1008313. Locality Anda6.
5. Conasprella cf. eugrammata (Bartsch & Rehder, 1943). RGM 1008314. Locality Anda6. 6. Conasprella cf. eugrammata (Bartsch & Rehder, 1943). RGM 1008315. Locality AndaDeVos. 7. Conus cf. fijisulcatus Moolenbeek, Röckel & Bouchet, 2008. RGM 1008317. Locality Anda1. 8. Conus cf. fijisulcatus Moolenbeek, Röckel & Bouchet, 2008. RGM 1008318. Locality Anda1. 9. Conus cf. fijisulcatus Moolenbeek, Röckel & Bouchet, 2008. RGM 1008319. Locality Roxas. 10. Profundiconus profundorum (Kuroda, 1956). RGM 1008320. Locality Anda2.
Material. Anda1 (6) RGM 1008311, RGM 1008324, RGM 1008325, RGM 1008326, RGM 1008327, RGM 1008328 (no photo), Anda2 (5) RGM 1008321, RGM 1008322, RGM 1008323 (no photo), RGM 962063 (no photo), RGM 962090 (no photo), Anda3 (6) RGM 1008312, RGM 1008329, RGM 1008330, RGM 1008331 (no photo), RGM 1008332 (no photo), RGM 1008333 (no photo), AndaDeVos (2) RGM 1008334, RGM 962091 (no photo), AndaClif1 (1) RGM 1008335.
Characterization. Shell medium-sized, up to 41 mm. Protoconch of 3 to 3.5 whorls. Teleoconch whorls tuberculate. Spire high, stepped; outline straight to slightly concave. Sutural ramp slightly concave, ornamented with 1 increasing to 6 spiral grooves above the tubercles and with radial threads. Last whorl narrowly conical to conical or narrowly pyriform, outline straight to weakly convex at upper two-thirds and straight to weakly concave at lower one-third. Shoulder angulate, with strong tubercles and two rather narrow spiral grooves just below tubercles. Subsutural flexure shallow, gently curved. Sculpture of last whorl consists of rather strong, axially striate spiral grooves, which become narrower in larger shells. Siphonal canal often deflected to the dorsal side. Aperture very narrow.
Distribution. Japan to the Philippines, Queensland, in 50–400 m (Röckel, Korn & Kohn, 1995). Japan Sea, southward to the Philippines, sand and mud bottoms, 50–425 m (Hori, 2000). Also from the Pliocene of Okinawa (Noda, 1988), Early Pleistocene of Taiwan (Nomura, 1935), the Pleistocene of Vanuatu (Ladd, 1982) and the Pleistocene of Fiji (Kohn & Arua, 1999a; Kohn & Arua, 1999b).
Remarks. Conasprella orbignyi (Audouin, 1831) was previously thought to be a species complex containing three subspecies (Röckel, Korn & Kohn, 1995), but Puillandre et al. (2011) regard these subspecies as separate species, based on their genetic divergence, shell morphology and geographic variation. This separation is regarded here as justified, even though the shell morphology of some of the newly created taxa seems to overlap, particularly in C. orbignyi (Audouin, 1831) s.s. and C. coriolisi (Röckel, Richard & Moolenbeek, 1995).
Unfortunately, Puillandre et al. (2011) do not discuss fossil shells in the C. orbignyi -complex. However, based on the strong spiral grooves on the body whorl, the strong tubercles and spiral grooves on the spire and the relatively slender body whorl and spire, the studied fossil material matches C. orbignyi (Audouin, 1831) s.s. most closely. This identification was confirmed by Rob Moolenbeek.
Twelve specimens were measured, eight of which show minor damage (see Table 2). The results of these measurements were compared to the values given by Röckel, Korn & Kohn (1995) for C. orbignyi (Audouin, 1831) s.s., which are: NPW 4, SL 38–87 mm, RD 0.42–0.50, PMD 0.83–0.90 and RSH 0.21–0.28. The measurements in the fossil material are all near the upper limits of these values, or exceed them, with the exception of NPW and SL. The averaged values for the undamaged specimens are: NPW 3.2, SL 32.7 mm, RD 0.50, PMD 0.92, RSH 0.31. The specimens are likely not full-grown shells, as reflected by their relatively low SL. This might have caused the RD, PMD and RSH values to turn out relatively high. There is no obvious reason for the difference in NPW. Perhaps there is an evolutionary trend that has caused NPW to increase over the last 2 million years. Fossils from other localities with intact protoconchs need to be examined to confirm this. However, the fact that these values do not entirely overlap with those given for C. orbignyi (Audouin, 1831) s.s., is considered here to be inconsequential to the species assignment of the studied material, also because of the small sample size.
Specimen RGM 1008311 (Anda1) was bleached to try to reveal its colour pattern, but this had no effect.
Noda (1988) figures a very large (SL> 80 mm), very high spired fossil specimen that matches C. orbignyi in its sculptural characters and is regarded here as thus, despite its aberrant shape and size.
description: Published as part of Helwerda, Enate A., 2017, Conidae and Terebridae (Gastropoda: Neogastropoda) from the Plio-Pleistocene of the Philippines, pp. 545-561 in Zootaxa 4221 (5) on pages 548-550, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4221.5.4, http://zenodo.org/record/253519