Subgenus: Cylinder

Cylinder: a Polyphyletic Taxon

Taxonomists conisder the subgenus Cylinder to be polyphyletic– that is, it contains species that are derived from multiple common ancestors. C. textile and C. retifer, the two members of this subgenus found within our collection, belong to two separate clades, differentiated by body plan (Puillandre et. al, 2015).

However, all the members of the Cylinder subgenus have similar radulae and diets. Additionally, an examination of peptides found in the venom of C. textile and C. glorianus (which belongs to the same clade as C. retifer) shows a similar molecular framework (Biggs 2010).

So, what justifies maintaining the polyphyletic subgenus? In the words of one group of taxonomists, Cylinder is “polyphyletic, but morphologically consistent”, and the difference in body plan doesn’t justify adding yet another subfamily to the already overpopulated Conus family tree (Puillandre et. al, 2015, p. 2).