Rank Genus | ||
 | ||
Subgenus XimenoconusEmerson & Old, 1962 Similar Dalliconus, Kohniconus, Jaspidiconus, Calibanus | ||
Perplexiconus has become a synonym of Conasprella (Ximeniconus) Emerson & Old, 1962, a subgenus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Conidae, the cone snails and their allies.
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In the new classification of the family Conidae by Puillandre N., Duda T.F., Meyer C., Olivera B.M. & Bouchet P. (2015), Perplexiconus has become a subgenus of Conasprella: Conasprella (Ximenoconus) Tucker & Tenorio, 2009 represented as Conasprella Thiele, 1929
Distinguishing characteristics
The Tucker & Tenorio 2009 taxonomy distinguishes Perplexiconus from Conus in the following ways:
Species list
This list of species is based on the information in the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) list. Species within the genus Perplexiconus include:
The following species names are recognized as "alternate representations" (see full explanation below) in contrast to the traditional system, which uses the genus Conus for all species in the family:
Significance of "alternative representation"
Prior to 2009, all cone species were placed within the family Conidae and were placed in one genus, Conus. In 2009 however, J.K. Tucker and M.J. Tenorio proposed a classification system for the over 600 recognized species that were in the family. Their classification proposed 3 distinct families and 82 genera for the living species of cone snails, including the family Conilithidae. This classification was based upon shell morphology, radular differences, anatomy, physiology, cladistics, with comparisons to molecular (DNA) studies. Published accounts of genera within the Conidae (or Conilithidae) that include the genus Perplexiconus include J.K. Tucker & M.J. Tenorio (2009), and Bouchet et al. (2011).
Testing in order to try to understand the molecular phylogeny of the Conidae was initially begun by Christopher Meyer and Alan Kohn, and is continuing, particularly with the advent of nuclear DNA testing in addition to mDNA testing.
However, in 2011, some experts still use the traditional classification, where all species are placed in Conus within the single family Conidae: for example, according to the current November 2011 version of the World Register of Marine Species, all species within the family Conidae are in the genus Conus. The binomial names of species in the 82 cone snail genera listed in Tucker & Tenorio 2009 are recognized by the World Register of Marine Species as "alternative representations." Debate within the scientific community regarding continues, and additional molecular phylogeny studies are being carried out in an attempt to clarify the issue.
All this has been superseded in 2015 by the new classification of the Conidae