Talopena carmesina

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Talopena carmesina
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Prosobranchia
Order: Archaeogastropoda
Superfamily: Trochacea
Family: Trochidae
Genus: Talopena
Species: T. carmesina
Binomial name
Talopena carmesina
(Webster, 1908)
Synonyms

Trochus carmesinus Webster, 1908

Talopena carmesina is a species of small sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Trochidae, the top snails.

Contents

[edit] Distribution

This species is endemic to northern New Zealand, at Cape Maria van Diemen and Great Barrier Island.

[edit] Habitat

This rare top snail is found in beach drift, and the actual habitat is unknown.

[edit] Shell description

The shell is rather small, moderately solid, depressed-trochiform, with bi-angulate whorls, a weak subsutural bulge, and a much stronger peripheral angle. The umbilicus is deep and narrow, with two spiral ridges, the inner umbilical one indistinct, but nevertheless, it terminates in a distinct denticle near the top of the pillar, and has a decided cleft between it and the parietal wall. Sculpture is of very numerous linear-spaced, fine spiral lirations, both on the upper and lower surfaces, but smooth within the umbilicus.

The external shell coloration is crimson, except for the umbilicus which is white.

The shell height is up to 6 mm, and the width is up to 8 mm.

[edit] References