Neptuneinae Stimpson 1865

Subfamily Neptuneinae Stimpson, 1865

Diagnosis: Shell large, reaching 240 mm, broadly fusiform, with high spire and short to medium-long siphonal canal, often bent abaxially. Protoconch paucispiral, moderately large. Whorl profile convex to distinctly shouldered. Shell sculpture pronounced in most species, spiral sculpture from microscopic threads to prominent bulging keels; axial sculpture rarely present, then of indistinct axial ribs or sometimes distinct, raised, axial lamellae producing prominent nodules at shoulder. Aperture wide. Shell covered with smooth periostracum. Operculum large, spanning most of aperture, with terminal nucleus. Radula with multicuspid (two to eight cusps) central tooth with rectangular and anteriorly arcuate base lateral teeth broad, with two to seven cusps, outermost longest. (after Kantor et al. 2022).

Remarks: Formerly considered part of the tribe Colini Gray, 1857 (Bouchet, et al. 2017) but differs genetically from that group. (Kantor et al. 2022).

In the Aleutian Islands 24 species in three genera are recognized, including ten new species and one new genus.