A Member-Exclusive Look at Conus Lugubris

The Conus lugubris population has been in decline for many years, and this marine snail species has been completely absent for over four decades. Now declared Extinct, encountering one in the wild is impossible – and even seeing their beautifully patterned shells has become a rare privilege.

Recently, mollusc expert Dr. Manuel Jiménez Tenorio of the Universidad de Cádiz, who led the Conus lugubris assessment for the IUCN Red List, visited the Natural History Museum in London to examine the type specimens of this rare species. He generously shared these images, offering a rare glimpse of this now-extinct animal.

Click through them below!

©
Phil Crabb, NHM Photographic Unit. Courtesy of the Natural History Museum, London.
(Images by Phil Crabb, NHM Photographic Unit. Courtesy of the Natural History Museum, London.)
©
Phil Crabb, NHM Photographic Unit. Courtesy of the Natural History Museum, London.
(Images by Phil Crabb, NHM Photographic Unit. Courtesy of the Natural History Museum, London.)
©
Phil Crabb, NHM Photographic Unit. Courtesy of the Natural History Museum, London.
(Images by Phil Crabb, NHM Photographic Unit. Courtesy of the Natural History Museum, London.)
©
Phil Crabb, NHM Photographic Unit. Courtesy of the Natural History Museum, London.
(Images by Phil Crabb, NHM Photographic Unit. Courtesy of the Natural History Museum, London.)
©
Phil Crabb, NHM Photographic Unit. Courtesy of the Natural History Museum, London.
(Images by Phil Crabb, NHM Photographic Unit. Courtesy of the Natural History Museum, London.)
©
Phil Crabb, NHM Photographic Unit. Courtesy of the Natural History Museum, London.
(Images by Phil Crabb, NHM Photographic Unit. Courtesy of the Natural History Museum, London.)