A Conchological Iconography: The West African and Mediterranean species of Conus

Resumen

That 10th part of the Conchological Iconography is the first dealing with the vast family of Conidae. The West-Ethiopian and Mediterranean Provinces house nearly 100 (excactly 99) species and subspecies of which most are endemic to very restricted areas, mainly in the Cape Verde Islands (48), Angola (25) and Senegal & Guinea (12). Also the Conus-fauna of the Madeiras, Canarys and St. Helena is included in that part. One species is described new to science. The text-part give a short history of the scientific approach to the fauna, but also shows nice collectibles from West African countries. The 4 pages with the Systematic List are followed by 62 pages of a commented Taxa List which gives detailed descriptions of animal and shell and information on synonymy, distribution (with detailed map) habitat and biology and is for each species joined by a figure of a typical specimen in ventral and dorsal view. 11 pages focus the interest on the radulae of West African cones and a Selected Bibliography of nearly 100 titles is followed by an Alphabetical Index.The perfect colour-figures show roughly 1,300 shells, so covering all the high variability of the fauna. Five plates are devoted to illustrate live animals and habitats, the last four plates exhibit the very useful determination tool.