Tugali elegans

Taxobox
name = "Tugali elegans"


image_caption =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Gastropoda
ordo = Archaeogastropoda
familia = Fissurellidae
genus = "Tugali"
species = "T. elegans"
binomial = "Tugali elegans"
binomial_authority = Gray, 1843

"Tugali elegans" is a species of large sea snail or limpet, a marine gastropod mollusc in the Family Fissurellidae, the keyhole and slit limpets.

The orange-yellow animal is larger than its limpet-like shell, the mantle almost covering the shell.

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand. It is found around the northern half of the North Island of New Zealand.

Habitat

This limpet lives under rocks in the intertidal zone.

hell description

The shell of this species is large, solid, elongate-ovate, and narrowed towards the anterior end, which has a broad shallow sinus at the termination of the anal fasciole, which divaricates into three radial ribs. The rest of the surface is crowded with linear-spaced radial ribs that are overridden by equally crowded concentric ridges, the linear incisions between which cut the radials into tiny rectangles. Fenestration occurs only in the early stages of growth. The shell margin is delicately crenulated.

The shell coloration is pale brownish externally, with a porcellaneous-white interior.

The maximum shell height is 17 mm, width 31 mm, and length 49 mm.

References

* Powell A W B, William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland 1979 ISBN 0-00-216906-1