Kalloconus byssinus (Röding, 1798) Fig. 6O Cucullus byssinus Röding, 1798: 41. Conus pulcher byssinus – Monteiro et al. 2004: 68, pls 22–23. Material examined Lectotype Representation of lectotype in Martini (1773: pl. 60, fig. 669) (Kohn 1975). Type locality not stated, designated Villa Cisneros (now Dakhla), Western Sahara (Coomans et al. 1982). Other material MAURITANIA • 1 spec., 56.4 mm; Noadibou; MNCN 15.05/90429 (Fig. 6O). Geographical distribution Western Sahara and Mauritania. Conservation status in IUCN Red List Not evaluated. Remarks Specimens from the type locality have not been molecularly examined. However, the mitogenome of a specimen from Senegal with a shell morphology matching that of typical K. byssinus is almost identical to that of K. pulcher (Abalde et al. 2017a). There are no significant differences between the radular teeth of K. pulcher and K. byssinus. Although we consider K. byssinus as provisionally valid only, pending molecular examination of specimens from the type locality, it is however likely that this taxon represents just a phenotypic variation of the widespread K. pulcher, typical of the northern end of its distribution range along the West African coast.

Published as part of Tenorio, Manuel J., Abalde, Samuel, Pardos-Blas, José R. & Zardoya, Rafael, 2020, Taxonomic revision of West African cone snails (Gastropoda: Conidae) based upon mitogenomic studies: implications for conservation, pp. 1-89 in European Journal of Taxonomy 663 (663) on page 50, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2020.663, http://zenodo.org/record/3890442