Conus hyaena

Rhizoconus hyaena
Apertural view of Rhizoconus hyaena
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
(unranked):	clade Caenogastropoda clade Hypsogastropoda clade Neogastropoda
Superfamily:	Conoidea
Family:	Conidae
Subfamily:	Coninae
Genus:	Rhizoconus
Species:	R. hyaena
Binomial name
Rhizoconus hyaena Hwass in Bruguière, 1792 [1]
Synonyms[2]
Conus concolor G. B. Sowerby II, 1841 Conus gilvus Reeve, 1849 Conus halli da Motta, 1983 Conus incarnatus Reeve, 1844 Conus kobelti Löbbecke & Kobelt, 1882 Conus mutabilis sensu Chemnitz Reeve, 1844 Conus tribunus Crosse, 1865 Conus unicolor G. B. Sowerby II, 1834 Rhizoconus hyaena hyaena Hwass in Bruguière, 1792 Phasmoconus halli Motta, A.J. da, 1983

Rhizoconus hyaena, common name the hyena cone, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Conidae, the cone snails and their allies.^[2]

These snails are predatory and venomous. They are capable of "stinging" humans, therefore live ones should be handled carefully or not at all.

Description

The size of an adult shell varies between 29 mm and 80.5 mm. The shell is somewhat swollen above. The spire is striate. The color of the shell is light yellowish brown, variegated by darker strigations, and faint revolving lines or rows of spots, often indistinctly lighter-banded in the middle. ^[3]

Distribution

This species occurs in the Indian Ocean along Madagascar, in the Bay of Bengal, and in the Pacific Ocean along the Philippines and Indonesia; in the South China Sea.

References

1. ^ Bruguière, J. G., and Hwass, C. H., 1792. Cone. Encyclopédie Méthodique: Histoire Naturelle des Vers, 1: 586 -757
2. ^ ^{a b} Conus hyaena Hwass in Bruguière, 1792.  Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=215558 on 25 July 2011.
3. ^ George Washington Tryon, Manual of Conchology vol. VI, p. 40; 1879 (described as Conus mutabilis)

• Dautzenberg, P. (1923). Liste préliminaire des mollusques marins de Madagascar et description de deux especes nouvelles. Journal de Conchyliologie 68: 21-74
• Filmer R.M. (2001). A Catalogue of Nomenclature and Taxonomy in the Living Conidae 1758 - 1998. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden. 388pp
• Tucker J.K. (2009). Recent cone species database. September 4th 2009 Edition

External links

• The Conus Biodiversity website
• Gastropods.com: Rhizoconus hyaena hyaena; accessed: 25 July 2011