''Camitia rotellina'', common name the wheel top shell, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

sea snail Sea snail is a common name for slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguished from snails primarily by the ...

, a

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Trochidae The Trochidae, common name top-snails or top-shells, are a family of various sized sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the subclass Vetigastropoda. This family is commonly known as the top-snails because in many species the shell resembles ...

, the top snails.Bouchet, P. (2012). ''Camitia rotellina'' (Gould, 1849). Accessed through:

World Register of Marine Species The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive list of names of marine organisms. Content The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scientific specialist ...

at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=547308 on 2012-11-23

Description

The length of the shell varies between 10 mm and 20 mm. The discoidal, depressed, smooth, shining shell is covered-perforate. The six whorls, are, under a lens, very minutely, obliquely striate. The earliest whorls are whitish, spirally obsoletely sulcate, the remainder are pale flesh-colored, ornamented with a subsutural linear zone and oblique brown spots. The

body whorl The body whorl is part of the morphology of the shell in those gastropod mollusks that possess a coiled shell. The term is also sometimes used in a similar way to describe the shell of a cephalopod mollusk. In gastropods In gastropods, the b ...

is dilated, obtuse in the middle, spirally trilineate (one line above, two at periphery), somewhat convex beneath, with two zones of brown spots. The

aperture In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. An opt ...

is transverse, and scarcely sulcate within. The columella is nearly horizontal, twisted above, truncate beneath. The columellar callus forms a coating to the extremely oblique umbilicus.H. Pilsbry, Manual of Conchology XI, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia
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Distribution

This marine species occurs off

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, off the

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni ...

, in the

East China Sea The East China Sea is an arm of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. It covers an area of roughly . The sea’s northern extension between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula is the Yellow Sea, separated b ...

and off the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

References

* Hedley, C., 1908. ''Studies on Australian Mollusca. Part X''. Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W, 33:456-489. * Habe, T., 1964. ''Shells of the Western Pacific in color II.'' Hoikusha, Osaka. 66 pls, 233 * Higo, S., Callomon, P. & Goto, Y., 1999. ''Catalogue and bibliography of the Marine shell-bearing Mollusca of Japan''. Elle Scientific Publications, Japan. 749

External links

To Encyclopedia of Life

To World Register of Marine Species
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q5026824 rotellina Gastropods described in 1849