Tellina gaimardi

Taxobox
name = "Tellina gaimardi"
status =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Bivalvia
subclassis = Heterodonta
ordo = Veneroida
superfamilia = Tellinoidea
familia = Tellinidae
genus = "Tellina"
species = "T. gaimardi"
binomial = "Tellina gaimardi"
binomial_authority = Iredale, 1915

"Tellina gaimardi", or the angled wedge shell, is a bivalve mollusc of the family Tellinidae.

Distribution

The angled wedge shell is endemic to New Zealand.

Habitat

It is found around the North and South islands, common in shallow water off ocean beaches.

Description

The shell is rather large, compressed, ovate-subtrigonal, the posterior end the longer, and weakly flexed. Sculpture consists of dense, fine, concentric lines, crossed by three or four weak radial folds at the anterior end, and two at the posterior end.

Coloration is pure white, with traces of a thin yellowish-olive periostracum.

Height is up to 43 mm, length 65 mm, and thickness 13 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