Alcithoe grahami

Taxobox
name = "Alcithoe grahami"


image_caption =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Gastropoda
ordo = Sorbeoconcha
familia = Volutidae
genus = "Alcithoe"
species = "A. grahami"
binomial = "Alcithoe grahami"
binomial_authority = Powell, 1965
synonyms = "Pachymelon grahami" Powell, 1965

"Alcithoe grahami" is a medium-sized deepwater sea snail, a gastropod mollusc in the family Volutidae, the volutes.

Range of distribution

This species is endemic to the South Island of New Zealand.

Habitat

This volute is found at depths of about 90 m.

hell description

The shell is solid and ovate, with a short spire, only two thirds the height of the aperture. The protoconch is large, blunt, cylindrical, and of two and a half whorls. Ths adult sculpture consists of numerous rounded axial folds, extending from suture to suture, and over the whole of the body whorl. The aperture has a thick rounded outer lip. The columella has four evenly developed oblique plaits.

The exterior shell colour is uniformly pinkish-buff.

The shell height is up to 32.5 mm, and the shell width is up to 15 mm.

References

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