We present a large-scale molecular phylogeny that includes 320 of the 761 recognized valid species of the cone snails (Conus), one of the most diverse groups of marine molluscs, based on three mitochondrial genes (COI, 16S rDNA and 12S rDNA). This is the first phylogeny of the taxon to employ concatenated sequences of several genes, and it includes more than twice as many species as the last published molecular phylogeny of the entire group nearly a decade ago. Most of the numerous molecular phylogenies published during the last 15 years are limited to rather small fractions of its species diversity. Bayesian and maximum likelihood analyses are mostly congruent and confirm the presence of three previously reported highly divergent lineages among cone snails, and one identified here using molecular data. About 85 % of the species cluster in the single Large Major Clade; the others are divided between the Small Major Clade (∼ 12%), the Conus californicus lineage (one species), and a newly defined clade (∼ 3%). We also define several subclades within the Large and Small major clades, but most of their relationships remain poorly supported. To illustrate the usefulness of molecular phylogenies in addressing specific evolutionary questions, we analyse the evolution of the diet, the biogeography and the toxins of cone snails. All cone snails whose feeding biology is known inject venom into large prey animals and swallow them whole. Predation on polychaete worms is inferred as the ancestral state, and diet shifts to molluscs and fishes occurred rarely.The ancestor of cone snails probably originated from the Indo-Pacific; rather few colonisations of other biogeographic provinces have probably occurred. A new classification of the Conidae, based on the molecular phylogeny, is published in an accompanying paper.

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Specialized predators on polychaetes, fishes, hemichordates or other molluscs, members of the predominantly tropical gastropod genus Conus diversified rapidly during the Miocene to constitute the most species-rich modern marine genus. We used DNA sequence data from mitochondria1 and nuclear loci of 76 Conus species to generate species-level phylogenetic hypotheses for this genus and then mapped known diets onto the phylogenies to elucidate the origins and evolutionary histories of different feeding specializations. The results indicate that dramatically new feeding modes arose only a few times, that the most derived feeding modes likely arose in the Miocene, and that much of the known diversity of Conus that was generated during Miocene radiations has survived to the present.