Hermes

Hermes is a subgenus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Conidae, the cone snails and their allies. In the new classification of the family Conidae by Puillandre N., Duda T.F., Meyer C., Olivera B.M. & Bouchet P. (2015), Hermes has become a subgenus of Conus: Conus (Hermes) Montfort, 1810 (type species: Conus nussatella Linnaeus, 1758) represented as Conus Thiele, 1929 Distinguishing characteristics The Tucker & Tenorio 2009 taxonomy distinguishes Hermes from Conus in the following ways: Genus Conus sensu stricto Linnaeus, 1758 Shell characters (living and fossil species) The basic shell shape is conical to elongated conical, has a deep anal notch on the shoulder, a smooth periostracum and a small operculum. The shoulder of the shell is usually nodulose and the protoconch is usually multispiral. Markings often include the presence of tents except for black or white color variants, with the absence of spiral lines of minute tents and textile bars. Radular tooth (not known for fossil species) The radula has an elongated anterior section with serrations and a large exposed terminating cusp, a non-obvious waist, blade is either small or absent and has a short barb, and lacks a basal spur. Geographical distribution These species are found in the Indo-Pacific region. Feeding habits These species eat other gastropods including cones.