Systematic Classification of Recent and Fossil Conoidean Gastropods, by John K. Tucker and Manuel J. Tenorio, ConchBooks, 2009: a review

摘要

Choose any shell book with a decent representation of worldwide cones. Marvel, as you flip through, at the diversity of shape, size, color, pattern, sculpture, and almost every other characteristic. The number of species in the single genus Conus varies depending on whom you ask, but is probably somewhere between 500 and 600 (and climbing!), making it one of the largest genera in the kingdom Animalia. Surely, these can't all belong to the same genus? There are some species that form obvious clusters- the tented cones and the needle cones stand out as two obvious groups. Once you've removed the obvious clusters, though, you're left with a huge number in the "other" category, still as diverse as when you started. This diversity is one thing that contributes to their perennial popularity with collectors. Cones have also been intensively studied by biologists, both for their ecology and for their legendary venoms. With all this attention, you'd think that a robust system of classification within the group would have been developed by now, but it has eluded all who have tried. Thus, the group has traditionally been consigned to one large genus and, indeed, a monogeneric family.