Thoristella oppressa

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Thoristella oppressa
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Prosobranchia
Order: Archaeogastropoda
Superfamily: Trochacea
Family: Trochidae
Genus: Thoristella
Species: T. oppressa
Binomial name
Thoristella oppressa
(Hutton, 1878)

Thoristella oppressa is a species of very small sea snail, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Trochidae, the top snails or top shells.

Contents

[edit] Distribution

This top shell is endemic to the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand, north of East Cape.

[edit] Habitat

This small species is quite commonly found on the fronds of the flapjack seaweed Carpophyllum maschalocarpum and the kelp Ecklonia radiata, and also under stones, at low tide.

[edit] Description

The shell is small, solid and conical, prominently bi-angled by a bluntly rounded subsutural fold, and a similar peripheral fold. The sculpture is of fine closely spaced spiral lirae.

Shell coloration is greenish-grey, darker spirally lined, either continuously or intermittently, in the form of dots and dashes, occasionally with larger maculations on both angulations. The umbilical area is white, and the interior of the aperture is pale iridescent.

The body of the animal is black.

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

[edit] References