Bouchet, Kantor et al. elevated in 2011 the subfamily Raphitominae (which at that point had been placed in the family Conidae) to the rank of family. This was based on a cladistic analysis of shell morphology, radular characteristics, anatomical characters, and a dataset of molecular sequences of three gene fragments. The family was found to be monophyletic.[1]
Description
The Raphitomidae is the largest, most diverse and most variable taxon in the Conoidea, with the greatest number of species and the largest ecological range (from the tropics to the pole) and largest vertical range (intertidal to hadal depths).[1]
The shells of species in the Raphitomidae are very variable in shape (buccinoid to ovate, elongate-fusiform, or high-cylindrical) and size (2 to 140mm in height). Similarly, shell sculpture is extremely variable, from nearly smooth to well developed spiral and axial elements and subsutural ramps. Common morphology includes apertural armature rarely well developed, inner lip usually smooth, no operculum, radular tooth hypodermic in character with marginal teeth of variable morphology (including variable length).[1]
The muscular bulb of the venom gland is always single-layered. The close relationship of Raphitomidae with cone snails (which are already under intensive study for the pharmaceutical applications of their toxins), makes them an interesting candidate for the discovery of new toxins.[3]
Another characteristic is the multispiral protoconch, which shows spiral striae on protoconch I and diagonally cancellated ("raphitomine") sculpture on protoconch II.[4][5]
Some species with a paucispiral protoconch are included in the family. This is usually based on similarities in shell morphology to
species having a "raphitomine" protoconch. This determination should also ideally be founded on other attributes, such as the type of radula or foregut anatomy or their lack of an operculum.[6]
Genera
This is a list of the accepted names of genera in the family Raphitomidae (the main reference for recent species is the World Register of Marine Species)[7]
Vaught, K.C. (1989). A classification of the living Mollusca. American Malacologists: Melbourne, FL (USA). ISBN0-915826-22-4. XII, 195 pp
Li, Baoquan, and Xinzheng Li. "Report on the Raphitomidae Bellardi, 1875 (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Conoidea) from the China Seas." Journal of natural history 48.17-18 (2014): 999-1025.
Criscione, Francesco, et al. (2021) "Where the snails have no name: a molecular phylogeny of Raphitomidae (Neogastropoda: Conoidea) uncovers vast unexplored diversity in the deep seas of temperate southern and eastern Australia." Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 191(4):961-1000
External links
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