- Drupella rugosa
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Drupella rugosa Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Mollusca Class: Gastropoda (unranked): clade Caenogastropoda
clade Hypsogastropoda
clade NeogastropodaSuperfamily: Muricoidea Family: Muricidae Subfamily: Rapaninae Genus: Drupella Species: D. rugosa Binomial name Drupella rugosa
(Born, 1778)Synonyms[1] - Murex concatenata Lamarck, 1822
- Morula concatenata (Lamarck, 1822)
- Murex concatenata Lamarck, 1822
- Murex rugosa Born, 1778
- Purpura alveolata Reeve, 1846
- Purpura fragum Blainville, H.M.D. de, 1832
- Purpura subturrita Blainville, 1832
- Ricinula concatenata (Lamarck, 1822)
Drupella rugosa, common name : the rugose drupe, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails.[1]
Contents
Description
Drupella rugosa is a creamy white to orange, conical shell with a height between 20 mm and 35 mm. The sculpture shows five spiral rows of rounded brown nodules separated by twelve axial ribs with fine granules, giving the shell a knobby appearance. The columella is narrow and the anal sinus hardly shows. The elliptical aperture is narrowed by protruding plaits. The outer lip is with five or six teeth.
Feeding patterns
Drupella rugosa grazes on the skeleton of tissue of live corals, especially branching corals such as Acropora pruinosa and Montipora informis, leaving a white scar behind. It has a preference for corals stressed mechanically and in low salinity water. They form feeding aggregations on an individual coral. But their impact is contained as they are rarely present in sufficient numbers to cause the coral population to dwindle. [2]
Distribution
This species is distributed in the intertidal zone and shallow rocky areas in the Red Sea and in the Indian Ocean along Aldabra, Chagos, Madagascar, the Mascarene Basin and in the Western Pacific.
References
- ^ a b Drupella rugosa (Born, 1778). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=212154 on 24 April 2010.
- ^ Morton, Brian; Graham Blackmore and C.T. Kwok (2001). "Corallivory and Prey Choice by Drupella rugosa(Gastropoda: Muricidae) in Hong Kong". Journal of Molluscan Studies 68 (3): 217–223. doi:10.1093/mollus/68.3.217. http://mollus.oxfordjournals.org/content/68/3/217.short. Retrieved 18 November 2010.
- Dautzenberg, Ph. (1929). Mollusques testaces marins de Madagascar. Faune des Colonies Francaises, Tome III
- Drivas, J. & M. Jay (1988). Coquillages de La Réunion et de l'île Maurice
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