Melo (gastropod)
| Melo | |
|---|---|
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| A shell of the Indian volute, Melo melo surrounded by a group of pearls from that species | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| (unranked): | clade Caenogastropoda clade Hypsogastropoda clade Neogastropoda |
| Superfamily: | Muricoidea |
| Family: | Volutidae |
| Genus: | Melo Sowerby, 1826 |
| Species | |
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See text | |
Melo is a genus of extremely large sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Volutidae, the volutes. Because of their huge ovate shells, these snails are often known as "bailers" (the shells were sometimes used for bailing out canoes) or "melons" (because the shell resembles that fruit).
Species in this genus sometimes produce large pearls. The image in the taxobox shows a group of these pearls with a shell of the species Melo melo.
Species
A live individual of what is probably Melo umbilicatus
A shell of Melo aethiopica
A shell of Melo melo
A juvenile shell of what is probably Melo amphora
Species in the genus Melo include:
- Melo aethiopica Linnaeus, 1758) Crowned baler
- Melo amphora, (Lightfoot, 1786) Giant baler
- Melo diadema
- Melo broderipii (Griffith, E. & E. Pidgeon, 1834)
- Melo georginae (Griffith, E. & E. Pidgeon, 1834)
- Melo melo (Lightfoot, 1786) Indian volute
- Melo miltonis (Griffith, E. & E. Pidgeon, 1834) Milton's melon or Southern bailer
- Melo nautica (Lamarck, 1822)
- Melo umbilicatus (Broderip in Sowerby, 1826) Heavy baler or umbilicate melon
References
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