Thoristella chathamensis dunedinensis

Taxobox
name = "Thoristella chathamensis dunedinensis"
status =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Gastropoda
subclassis = Prosobranchia
ordo = Archaeogastropoda
superfamilia = Trochacea
familia = Trochidae
genus = "Thoristella"
species = "T. chathamensis"
subspecies = "T. chathamensis dunedinensis"
trinomial = "Thoristella chathamensis dunedinensis"
trinomial_authority = (Suter, 1897)
synonyms = "Trochus opressus dunedinensis" Suter, 1897
"Trochus chathamensis dunedinensis" Suter, 1913
"Trochus chathamensis benthicola" Finlay, 1927

"Thoristella chathamensis dunedinensis" is a subspecies of small sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Trochidae, the top snails or top shell.

Distribution

This subspecies is endemic to New Zealand, found in the South Island south of Dunedin, Stewart Island, and the Snares Islands.

Habitat

These top snails are found under rocks at low tide.

hell description

The shell has a taller spire than other members of the genus, with a lightly convex base, not flat.

The shell coloration is the same as "Thoristella chathamensis aucklandica", except the maculations are dark olive-brown on a greyish-buff ground, and the protoconch is spirally lined in bright red. The height and the width are both up to 9.5 mm.

References

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