Assiminea vulgaris

Taxobox
name = "Assiminea vulgaris"


status =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Gastropoda
ordo = Mesogastropoda
familia = Assimineidae
genus = "Assiminea"
species = "A. vulgaris"
binomial = "Assiminea vulgaris"
binomial_authority = (Webster, 1905)
synonyms =

"Assiminea vulgaris" is a species of gastropod mollusc in the family Assimineidae.

Distribution

This snail is endemic to the northern half of the North Island of New Zealand.

Habitat

This species is found at the high tide level, or splash zone, under cover of "Enteromorpha", "Salicornia", or "Zostera" algae.

hell description

The shell is very small, with a narrowly pointed spire, solid, smooth and glossy. The peristome is discontinuous, the inner lip is connected across the parietal wall as a thin callus, and the columellar lip is rounded and thickened. The operculum is D-shaped, thin, white, , the nucleus subcentral. The radula formula is 2+1+1+1+2. The central tooth has five cusps, and three denticles on either side of the base. The lateral teeth have six cusps, the inner marginals five cusps, and the outer marginals 15 cusps.

Shell coloration is dark honey-brown in living examples, but fades to pale warm-buff.

Shell height is up to 3.5 mm, and width up to 2.1 mm.

References

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