Zelippistes benhami

Taxobox
name = "Zelippistes benhami"


image_caption =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusc
classis = Gastropoda
subclassis = Orthogastropoda
superordo = Heterobranchia
ordo = Littorinimorpha
superfamilia = Calyptraeoidea
familia = Capulidae
genus = "Zelippistes"
species = "Z. benhami"
binomial = "Zelippistes benhami"
binomial_authority = (Suter, 1902)
synonyms = "Separatista benhami" Suter, 1902

"Zelippistes benhami" is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Capulidae.

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand, found around the northern North Island including offshore islands.

Habitat

This snail lives at depths of between 35 and 475 m.

hell description

The shell in its young stages looks like an umbilicated "Trichosirius", but in its adult form the aperture becomes detached from the body whorl and spreads our greatly to the right, the continuous peristome being irregular to fit its surface of attachment.

Coloration is yellowish-white, with a thin yellowish periostracum.

The shell height is up to 9.5 mm, and width up to 21.5 mm.

References

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