Africonus josephinae (Rolán, 1980) Fig. 4K Conus josephinae Rolán, 1980: 80. pls 1, 3, fig. 104. Africonus marckeppensi Cossignani & Fiadeiro, 2017b: 33. Africonus guiandradoi Cossignani & Fiadeiro, 2017c: 52. syn. nov. Africonus demisgeraldoi Cossignani & Fiadeiro, 2018a: 17. syn. nov. Conus josephinae – Monteiro et al. 2004: 54, pls 109, 111. Material examined Holotype CABO VERDE • 25.8 mm; Boa Vista Island, Sal Rei; 1–5 m depth; E. Rolán leg.; MNCN 15.05/1050 (Fig. 4K). Other material CABO VERDE • 1 spec.; Boa Vista Island, Ilhéu de Sal Rei; 16º9ʹ50ʺ N, 22º55ʹ31ʺ W; 3 Jul. 2013; MNCN exped.; GenBank mitochondrion, partial genome: MF491565; MNCN 15.05/80415 • 1 spec.; Boa Vista Island, Ervatão Norte; 16º12ʹ3ʺ N, 22º54ʹ43ʺ W; 2 Jul. 2013; MNCN exped.; GenBank mitochondrion, partial genome: MF491562; MNCN 15.05/80412 • 1 spec., 25 mm, holotype of Africonus guiandradoi; Boa Vista Island, NE of Sal Rei in Baixa da Hortinha; MMM • 1 spec., 23.8 mm, holotype of Africonus demisgeraldoi; Boa Vista Island, Baixa de Padaroso; MMM. Geographical distribution Multiple localities around Boa Vista Island, Cabo Verde Archipelago. Conservation status in IUCN Red List Near threatened. Status revision required. Remarks This species is very closely related to A. borgesi. With regards to the conservation status, A. josephinae used to be abundant around its type locality in Boa Vista Island. However, the expansion of the town of Sal Rei due to touristic and industrial development is seriously compromising the habitat of this population. The alleged conspecific population from Maio Island has been now established as a separate species, namely A. perrineae Cossignani & Fiadeiro, 2018, in agreement with molecular data (Abalde et al. 2017a; Tenorio et al. 2018). This significantly reduces the distribution range of A. josephinae. On the other hand, several populations distributed around Boa Vista Island, which have been recently introduced as new species, actually correspond to different color and pattern variations of A. josephinae. These names are here synonymized accordingly. Thus, A. guiandradoi is applied to pale-colored individuals of A. josephinae with a pattern of sparse fine brown spiral lines. This pattern is commonly observed in specimens of A. perrineae from Maio Island, but it is rare in Boa Vista. The name A. demisgeraldoi applies to typical brown specimens of A. josephinae that display one midbody band irregularly patterned with white blotches. The alleged differences in shell shape were not statistically tested, and the presence of white blotches on the shell does not warrant the separation from A. josephinae. Taking into consideration all these changes, a risk status revision for A. josephinae is strongly recommended.

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 pages 34-35, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2020.663, http://zenodo.org/record/3890442