Amalda mucronata

Taxobox
name = "Amalda mucronata"
status =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Gastropoda
subclassis = Orthogastropoda
superordo = Caenogastropoda
ordo = Sorbeoconcha
subordo = Hypsogastropoda
infraordo = Neogastropoda
familia = Olividae
genus = "Amalda"
species = "A. mucronata"
binomial = "Amalda mucronata"
binomial_authority = (Sowerby, 1830)

"Amalda mucronata" is a species of medium-sized sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Olividae, the olives.

Range of distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand. It is found around the North Island, and the northern South Island.

Habitat

This olive lives from low water to 470 m.

hell description

The shell is large, narrower, and of much paler coloration than "Amalda australis", often with a very massive spire callus, and always distinguishable from "australis" by the basal groove being white, not the same colour as the mid body whorl zone. Also the columella has four plaits of more or less even size.

The colour of the spire is pale orange-brown, diffused with reddish-brown. The central body whorl zone is yellowish-fawn to pale purplish-brown, with a thin white line above, and a broader white sunken band below. The fasciolar area is pale yellowish to reddish-brown.

The shell is completely covered by the mantle of the animal when it is fully extended.

The shell height is up to 61 mm, and the width is up to 27 mm.

References

* Powell A W B, "New Zealand Mollusca", William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 ISBN 0-00-216906-1
* Glen Pownall, "New Zealand Shells and Shellfish", Seven Seas Publishing Pty Ltd, Wellington, New Zealand 1979 ISBN 85467-054-8