Cominella virgata virgata

Taxobox
name = "Cominella virgata virgata"


status =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Gastropoda
subclassis = Prosobranchia
ordo = Sorbeoconcha
familia = Buccinidae
genus = "Cominella"
species = "C. virgata virgata"
binomial = "Cominella virgata virgata"
binomial_authority = H. and A. Adams, 1853
synonyms "Cominella virgata" H. and A. Adams, 1853

"Cominella virgata virgata" is a predatory sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Buccinidae, the true whelks.

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand, found around Northland in the North Island.

Habitat

This common whelk is found intertidally on rocky ground.

hell description

The solid shell has a tall spire and a narrowly ovate body whorl. The surface is nearly smooth.

The shell coloration is grayish or yellowish, with distant regular dark brown spiral lines, two or three on the spire whorls and six or seven on the body whorl. The interior of the aperture is purplish-brown, and the columellar is bright orange.

The shell height is up to 42 mm, and the width is up to 20 mm.

References

* Powell A. W. B., "New Zealand Mollusca", William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 ISBN 0-00-216906-1