3. Results3.1. Morphological analys

3. Results
3.1. Morphological analyses
The specimens collected in the Marquesas Islands, and preliminarily
identified as C. sanguinolentus, formed two morphologically
separable clusters (Fig. 1). One morphotype, with an average total
shell length of 48 mm, is characterized by a lavender to purple
background color; the other morphotype, with an average total
shell length of 35 mm, is olive or yellowish brown and lacks the
lavender to purple background color (Supplementary Data 1).
The larger morphotype was only found in the Marquesas Islands,
where it seemed to replace C. lividus, which is found throughout
the Indo-Pacific except in the Marquesas. This purple morphotype
likely represent a new species (and this hypothesis is supported by
other evidence – see below), and it is described as Conus conco new
species (Supplementary Data 1).