Monodonta labio

Monodonta labio
Monodonta labio
Monodonta labio
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Vetigastropoda
Superfamily: Trochoidea
Family: Trochidae
Subfamily: Monodontinae
Genus: Monodonta
Species: M. labio
Binomial name
Monodonta labio
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms
  • Trochus labio Linnaeus, 1758 (basionym)
  • Trochus novaezeelandica Röding, P.F., 1798
  • Monodonta immanis Fischer, 1880
  • Monodonta labio granulata Pilsbry, H.A., 1890

Monodonta labio, common name the toothed top shell, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Trochidae, the top snails.[1]

Monodonta labio

Contents

Distribution

This species is distributed in the Indian Ocean along Madagascar and the Mascarene basin and in the Western Pacific and along the Philippines.

Description

The length of the shell size varies between 15 mm and 45 mm. The shell is heavy and coarse with rough, grained surface with moderate sutures between rounded whorls. The body whorl is swollen and the penultimate whorl somewhat less. The shell shows a rounded keel (a spiral ridge marking a change of slope) and an umbilicus sealed with a callus. The apex is often worn away in adults. The columella has a prominent, blunt tooth. The inner edge of the outer lip shows a number of smaller knobs. The aperture has a nacreous interior.The color of the shell varies from a dark reddish brown to pale brown, with spiraled dashes of cream or pink.

Habitat

This snail lives on or under rocks and coral in the lower intertidal zone. But it tolerates a wide variety of substrata.

Feeding habits

This species is a herbivorous snail grazing on microalgae

References

  1. ^ Monodonta labio (Linnaeus, 1758).  Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=216318 on 16 March 2011.
  • Drivas, J. & M. Jay (1988). Coquillages de La Réunion et de l'île Maurice
  • Donald K.M., Kennedy M. & Spencer H.G. (2005) The phylogeny and taxonomy of austral monodontine topshells (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Trochidae), inferred from DNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 37: 474-483
  • Poppe G.T., Tagaro S.P. & Dekker H. (2006) The Seguenziidae, Chilodontidae, Trochidae, Calliostomatidae and Solariellidae of the Philippine Islands. Visaya Supplement 2: 1-228. page(s): 95

External links


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