Calliostoma punctulatum

Taxobox
name = "Calliostoma punctulatum"


image_caption =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Gastropoda
ordo = Archaeogastropoda
familia = Calliostomatidae
genus = "Calliostoma"
species = "C. punctulatum"
binomial = "Calliostoma punctulatum"
binomial_authority = (Martyn, 1784)

"Calliostoma punctulatum" is a species of medium-sized sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc. Some authors have placed this genus in the Family Calliostomatidae, other malacologists have left it in the family Trochidae.

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand. It is found all around New Zealand, including the Chatham Islands.

Habitat

This top shell is found around the low tide level, usually in association with brown algae.

hell description

The shell is conoidal, solid, with rounded convex whorls, sculptured with narrow closely-spaced conspicuously beaded spiral ridges, varying between 6 and 12 on the penultimate whorl. The ground colour is pale yellowish or pinkish-brown; the spiral ridges are tessellated with bright reddish-brown between the pale beads.

The spire height, and the strength and number of the beaded primary cords, is geographically variable, giving rise to different maximum dimensions:

* Whangarei Heads - Shell height up to 35 mm, and width up to 34 mm.
* Stewart Island - Shell height up to 48 mm, and width up to 40 mm.
* Stewart Island, "ampla" form - Shell height up to 48 mm, and width up to 44 mm.

References

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