Calliostoma spectabilis

Taxobox
name = "Calliostoma spectabilis"


image_caption =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Gastropoda
ordo = Archaeogastropoda
familia = Calliostomatidae
genus = "Calliostoma"
species = "C. spectabilis"
binomial = "Calliostoma spectabilis"
binomial_authority = (A. Adams, 1855)
synonyms = "Zizyphinus spectabilis" A. Adams, 1855

"Calliostoma spectabilis" is species of relatively large deepwater sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc. Some authors have placed this genus in the family Calliostomatidae, other malacologists prefer to leave it in the family Trochidae, the top snails.

Distribution

This species is endemic to the Auckland Islands of New Zealand.

Habitat

This top snail is found at depths of between 100 and 130 m.

hell description

The shell is fairly large and solid, tall-conical with straight-sided whorls, but a bluntly rounded apex. Sculpture is of strong nodulose spiral cords, three to four on the spire whorls and seven on the base.

The external shell coloration is yellowish to purplish-brown, with paler nodules. The aperture is iridescent.

The shell height is up to 52 mm, and the width is up to 45 mm.

References

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