Africonus longilineus
Creators: name: Tenorio, Manuel J.
name: Abalde, Samuel
name: Pardos-Blas, José R.
name: Zardoya, Rafael
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Mollusca
Gastropoda
Neogastropoda
Conidae
Africonus
Africonus longilineus

description: Africonus longilineus (Röckel, Rolán & Monteiro, 1980)
Fig. 4M
Conus grahami longilineus Röckel, Rolán & Monteiro, 1980: 85, figs 56–57.
Conus melissae Tenorio, Afonso & Rolán, 2008: 8, pl. 3
Africonus cagarralensis Cossignani, 2014: 21.
Africonus nelsonandradoi Cossignani & Fiadeiro, 2015a: 18. syn. nov.
Africonus minimus Cossignani & Fiadeiro, 2015b: 3. syn. nov.
Conus longilineus – Monteiro et al. 2004: 55, pl. 124, figs 4–7.
Material examined
Holotype
CABO VERDE • 16.8 mm; Sal Island; 0.8–2 m depth; NMSF.
Other material
CABO VERDE • 1 spec.; Sal Island, Serra Negra; 16º38ʹ17ʺ N, 22º53ʹ56ʺ W; 5 Apr. 2014; MNCN exped.; GenBank mitochondrion, partial genome: MF491572; MNCN 15.05/79739 • 1 spec., 21.7 mm; same collection data as for preceding; MNCN 15.05/79738 (Fig. 4M) • 1 spec.; Sal Island, Pedra Lume; 16º45ʹ44ʺ N, 22º53ʹ2ʺ W; 7 Apr. 2014; MNCN exped.; GenBank mitochondrion, partial genome: MF491579; MNCN 15.05/79804 • 1 spec.; Sal Island, Baía da Parda; 16º45ʹ7ʺ N, 22º53ʹ56ʺ W; 6 Apr. 2014; MNCN exped.; GenBank mitochondrion, partial genome: MF491577; MNCN 15.05/79779 • 1 spec., 14.0 mm, holotype of Africonus nelsonandradoi; Sal Island, area of Calhetinha; 0.3–3 m depth; MMM • 1 spec., 7.2 mm, holotype of Africonus minimus; Sal Island, Praia do Monte Grande and Ponta do Linguincho; MMM.
Geographical distribution
East coast, Sal Island, Cabo Verde Archipelago.
Conservation status in IUCN Red List
Least concern.
Remarks
This taxon was initially introduced as a subspecies of A. grahami. Despite superficial resemblance in shell morphology, A. longilineus is a separate species endemic to Sal Island, only distantly related to A. grahami. Although the type locality for A. longilineus was not specifically mentioned in the original description, its distribution range was stated to be along the east coast of Sal Island, with another population in the north of the island. Several representative specimens of recently named taxa described from the east coast of Sal Island exhibit mitogenome sequences almost identical to that of A. longilineus, and are therefore considered synonyms (forms) of this species. The species A. nelsonandradoi was compared in the original description to the very variable A. cagarralensis, which is a synonym (form) of A. longilineus (Abalde et al. 2017a). We propose to consider that A. nelsonandradoi represents merely a northern population of the latter. On the other hand, A. minimus likely is a juvenile of A. longilineus. Besides, the name Africonus minimus Cossignani & Fiadeiro, 2015b most likely is invalid under ICZN articles 57.3 and 59.1, as it is a junior secondary homonym of Conus minimus Linnaeus, 1758, Conus minimus Hwass in Bruguière, 1792 and Conus minimus d’Archiac, 1843.
description: Published as part of 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, pp. 1-89 in European Journal of Taxonomy 663 (663) on pages 35-36, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2020.663, http://zenodo.org/record/3890442