Alcithoe benthicola

Taxobox
name = "Alcithoe benthicola"


image_caption =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Gastropoda
ordo = Sorbeoconcha
familia = Volutidae
genus = "Alcithoe"
species = "A. benthicola"
binomial = "Alcithoe benthicola"
binomial_authority = Dell, 1963
synonyms = "Pachymelon benthicola" Dell, 1963

"Alcithoe benthicola" is a very large deepwater sea snail, a marine prosobranch gastropod mollusc in the family Volutidae, the volutes.

Distribution

The species is endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. It is found from the east coast of Northland to the Bay of Plenty, including offshore islands, at depths of between 365 and 730 m. This is the largest member of the Volutidae family found in New Zealand.

hell decription

The shell is large but thin and fragile. It is elongate-fusiform in shape, with rounded whorls. It has a tall spire, almost equal to the height of the aperture. The early spire whorls are sculptured with long axial folds, 14 or 15 per whorl, after which they quickly become obsolete. The aperture is long and narrow, with a broad, very shallow, anterior notch. The outer lip is thin, the inner lip spreading broadly across the body whorl as a thin glaze. The columella has four oblique plaits.

The colour is uniformly chalky-white, or pale pinkish-orange, externally. The interior of the aperture and inner lip callus is bright orange.

The shell height is up to 254 mm, and the width is up to 142 mm.

References

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