Spectamen benthicola

Taxobox
name = "Spectamen benthicola"


image_caption =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Gastropoda
ordo = Archaeogastropoda
familia = Trochidae
genus = "Spectamen"
species = "S. benthicola"
binomial = "Spectamen benthicola"
binomial_authority = (Powell, 1937)
synonyms = "Zeminolia benthicola" Powell, 1937

"Spectamen benthicola" is a small deepwater sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Trochidae.

Distribution

This species is endemic to the Three Kings Islands of New Zealand.

Habitat

This deepwater top shell lives at depths of about 260 m.

hell description

The shell is , with a deep umbilicus, one sixth the diameter of the base. Sculpture is of narrow sharply raised spiral ridges and dense fine axial threads.

The external shell coloration is lemon-yellow, with radial blotches of darker yellow, and a series of small rectangular reddish-brown blotches at the shoulder angle.

The shell height is up to 5 mm, and the width is up to 5.5 mm.

References

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