Golden volute

Taxobox
name = Golden volute


image_caption =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Gastropoda
subclassis = Orthogastropoda
ordo = Sorbeoconcha
superfamilia = Volutoidea
familia = Volutidae
genus = "Iredalina"
genus_authority = Finlay, 1926
species = "I. mirabilis"
binomial = "Iredalina mirabilis"
binomial_authority = Finlay, 1926
synonyms = "Iredalina aurantia" Powell, 1954

The golden volute, "Iredalina mirabilis", is a species of rare, large, deepwater sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Volutidae, the volutes.

This is the only species in the genus; in other words, "Iredalina" is a monotypic genus.

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand. It is found off the east coast.

Habitat

This volute lives at depths of between 180 and 700 m, although empty shells are sometimes found in shallower water, presumably carried there by hermit crabs.

hell description

These shells are large, solid, and fusiform, and are characterized by the absence of plaits on the columella. There are two forms of this species, one tall-spired and narrow, the other short-spired and broadly ovate, the latter far more numerous. They are both entirely without sculpture and have no operculum.

The whole surface of the shell is highly glazed, and is of bright salmon-orange colour, deepening to pinkish-orange within the aperture, and entirely without a colour pattern. This rare shell is highly prized by collectors.

The shell height is up to 140 mm, and the width up to 48 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