Focus on W African endemic cone shells

[JackSullivan]

When I started collecting I nearly bought everything I saw that caught my eye. I haven't done a count but I must have at least 200-300 species of Conus with multiples of some. The logistics of curating such a large collection have had the desired effect of absorbing much of my 'free' time.

My fascination with the highly variable shell pigmentation of Conus mercator & its close relatives Conus belairensis & Conus cacao from Senegal has resulted in my narrowing my field of interest to the endemic cone snails of Senegal, Cape Verde & the Canary Islands.

My collection of 30+ C. mercator shells is intended to study the variation of size, shell structure & pigmentation of this species as well as its geographic range. I am doing the same for C. cacao, which has similar pigment patterns but a slightly different geographic range. WoRMS claims that C. cacao is a synonym of C. mercator while they appear to have different ranges & different coloration but very similar pigment patterns. I want to study these shells in my lab & come to my own conclusion on this question.

As part of my study I have ordered a lot of 18 shells belonging to these species from a dealer in Portugal http://www.atollseashells.com/ . Gonçalo Rosa is owner of Atoll Specimen Shells & so far has provided me with prompt & excellent service on pricing & shipping updates. He has quite an inventory of shells of all types.

Jack