Spectamen plicatulum

Taxobox
name = "Spectamen plicatulum"


image_caption =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Gastropoda
ordo = Archaeogastropoda
familia = Trochidae
genus = "Spectamen"
species = "S. plicatulum"
binomial = "Spectamen plicatulum"
binomial_authority = (Murdoch and Suter, 1906)
synonyms = "Minolia plicatula" Murdoch and Suter, 1906

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

Distribution

This species is endemic to the North Island of New Zealand, from North Cape to East Cape.

Habitat

This deepwater top shell lives at depths of between 65 and 200 m.

hell description

The shell is very depressed, and has a very wide perspective umbilicus,about half the width of the base, margined by a strong sharply raised cord. The whole shell is crossed by primary and secondary spirals, with the addition of distant radial folds on the upper surface only.

The external shell coloration is slightly iridescent creamy-buff, with irregularly radial zigzag bands of reddish-purple.

The shell height is up to 5 mm, and the width is up to 7 mm.

References

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