Alcithoe fissurata

Taxobox
name = "Alcithoe fissurata"


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

"Alcithoe fissurata" is a sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Volutidae, the volutes.

Range of Distribution

This species is endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. It is found from both the west and east coasts of Northland south to the Bay of Plenty, including offshore islands.

Habitat

This volute lives at depths of between 365 and 550 m.

hell description

This shell is very large and thin, differing from "Alcithoe benthicola" in having a shorter spire, only half the height of the aperture, less convex whorls, weaker and more numerous axial folds, 17 to 21 per whorl, confined to the first one and a half to two whorls, and in the presence of a colour pattern. The aperture is elongately lunate, ending in a broad, very shallow, anterior notch.

The outer surface of the shell is smooth, with a ground colour of light orange, with broad spiral zones of reddish-brown zigzag maculations, one from the suture to about half way across the shoulder slope, and another, much broader one, about the middle of the body whorl.

The shell height is up to 195 mm, and the width is up to 71 mm.

References

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