Calliostoma foveauxanum

Taxobox
name = "Calliostoma foveauxanum"


image_caption =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Gastropoda
ordo = Archaeogastropoda
familia = Calliostomatidae
genus = "Calliostoma"
species = "C. foveauxanum"
binomial = "Calliostoma foveauxanum"
binomial_authority = (Dell, 1950)
synonyms = "Venustas foveauxana" Dell, 1950

"Calliostoma spectabilis" is a medium-sized sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc.

Some authors have placed this genus in the family Calliostomatidae, but other malacologists would place it in the family Trochidae, the top shells.

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand. It is found around the Foveaux Strait area of the South and Stewart islands.

Habitat

This top snail is found at depths of between 30 and 150 m.

hell description

The shell is similar to "Calliostoma spectabilis" but with more complex spire whorls, finer, more numerous granulose spiral cords, eight or nine on the penultimate whorl and 12 on the base.

Coloration is yellowish to pinkish-buff, the spiral cords light brown between the whitish tipped granules.

Shell height is up to 63 mm, and width up to 59 mm.

References

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