Margarella

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Margarella
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Prosobranchia
Order: Archaeogastropoda
Superfamily: Trochacea
Family: Trochidae
Genus: Margarella
Thiele, 1893
Species

See text.

Margarella is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs of the family Trochidae, the top shells.

Contents

[edit] Distribution

This genus is endemic to Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands, north as far as Otago in the South Island of New Zealand.

[edit] Shell description

These top shells are globose to depressed-turbinate shape, usually thin-shelled, often brightly patterned and highly iridescent within the aperture. The operculum is horny, circular and multispiral, with a central nucleus. The radula is similar to that of the boreal Margarita, both having a large based central tooth, with lateral wings, but a single small cusp.

[edit] Habitat

Many species in this genus live in association with giant kelp in the genus Durvillea.

[edit] Species

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

[edit] References