| Macklintockia scabra | |
|---|---|
| A shell of Macklintockia scabra | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| (unranked): | clade Patellogastropoda |
| Superfamily: | Nacelloidea |
| Family: | Nacellidae |
| Genus: | Macklintockia Gould, 1846 |
| Species: | M. scabra |
| Binomial name | |
| Macklintockia scabra (Gould, 1846) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Macklintockia scabra, common name the California rough limpet, is a species of small sea snail or limpet, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Nacellidae, the true limpets.
Macklintockia scabra is the only species in the genus Macklintockia.
Macklintockia scabra is found along the Pacific coast of North America, between Oregon and Baja California.[1]
The shell size is between 19 and 40 mm and the shell is rather depressed. The apex of the shell has a small depression, a very elongated outline and is located at the anterior third of the shell. In some specimens the apex is nearly central, with a rounded shell.[2]
The axial sculpture shows very strong, close, rough ribs with smaller intervening riblets in the interstices. The shell of a young snail is extremely inequilateral and develops rapidly the characteristic ribs.[2]
The shell has a white color with fine brown lines between the main ribs. These brown lines dot the otherwise uniform white margin. The principal ribs are sometimes rather sharp, palmating the margin. Occasionally they are small and crowded, becoming faint at the margin.[2]
The interior of the shell is white with darker spots and bars. It shows a white callus, through which the darker spots appear. These take occasionally the form of irregular ghostly bars (which gave rise to its synonymous name Acmaea spectrum - spectrum = ghost).[2]
The very strong ribs at the outside and the curiously marked interior, like the print of a hand, are prominent characteristics of this species.[2]
This article incorporates public domain text from the reference [2]