Struthiolaria vermis vermis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Struthiolaria vermis vermis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Mesogastropoda
Family: Struthiolariidae
Genus: Struthiolaria
Species: S. vermis
Subspecies: S. vermis vermis
Trinomial name
Struthiolaria vermis vermis
(Martyn, 1784)
Synonyms

Buccinum vermis Martyn, 1784
Struthiolaria tricarinata Lesson, 1841
Struthiolaria vermis Suter, 1913

Struthiolaria vermis vermis, known as a kind of ostrich foot shell (as are all the members of the family), is a subspecies of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Struthiolariidae.

Contents

[edit] Distribution

This subspecies is endemic to the North Island of New Zealand.

[edit] Habitat

This large snail is found near low tide on muddy sand beaches, and off coastal beaches to about 90 m, where it is buried just below the surface.

[edit] Description

The shell is much smaller than Struthiolaria papulosa, solid, variable in both shape and degree of angulation, but all have a deeply canaliculate suture.

Coloration is variable also, but usually light orange-brown, obscurely axially streaked in slightly darker brown. The aperture is white to greyish within, and the outer and inner lip callus is either white or orange.

The shell height is up to 54 mm, and width up to 35 mm

[edit] References