''Harpa'',

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

the "harp snails", is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of large

predatory Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...

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 ...

s, marine gastropod mollusks in the family

Harpidae The Harpidae, known as the harp snails, are the members of a taxonomic family of large predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks. Subfamilies and genera This family consists of the following subfamilies (according to the taxonomy of ...

.Gofas, S.; Bouchet, P. (2015). Harpa Röding, 1798. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=205853 on 2016-02-28 ''Harpa'' is the type genus of the family Harpidae.

Description

The shell has an ovate-oblong shape. It is more or less inflated, generally pretty thin, enamelled, and provided with parallel, longitudinal, inclined and acute ribs. ; 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 much larger than all the others together. The

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...

is slightly elevated. 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 large, oval, dilated, strongly emarginated inferiorly, and without

siphonal canal The siphonal canal is an anatomical feature of the shells of certain groups of sea snails within the clade Neogastropoda. Some sea marine gastropods have a soft tubular anterior extension of the mantle called a siphon through which water is ...

. The outer

lip The lips are the visible body part at the mouth of many animals, including humans. Lips are soft, movable, and serve as the opening for food intake and in the articulation of sound and speech. Human lips are a tactile sensory organ, and can be ...

is bordered by the last rib. The

columella Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (; Arabic: , 4 – ) was a prominent writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire. His ' in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture, together with the wo ...

is smooth, simple, nearly straight and pointed at the base. The animal has a flattened head, which supports a pair of pretty long, thick, and conical tentacles, with a small protuberance at their base, internally, where the eyes are situated. the mouth is simple, surrounded by a muscular margin, and furnished with a small, slender and pointed trunk. The organ of excitement is elongated, cylindrical, situated on the right side. The locomotive organ is very large, very broad at the anterior part, which is ear-shaped, and distinguished by a deep emargination upon each side. The posterior extremity is caducous, and destitute of an operculum. The fleshy part of this mollusk is very strong, and very large. Its foot is enormous, thick, and extended considerably out of the shell. It cannot be wholly contained within the aperture, before which, by contracting itself, it forms a margin. The foot is as if divided into two portions. The anterior broader, arcuated, ear-shaped, with a marginal furrow, and joined to the posterior part by a kind of neck. This latter, more extended, is somewhat oval, pointed, and slightly inflated above, without any appearance of operculum. When the animal is violently disturbed, it breaks off the posterior extremity of its foot, in order to withdraw itself more completely within its shell. In consequence of this an operculum would be useless to it, for it would be liable to be carried away by the rupture of the foot. Therefore, it is not possessed. All the external parts of the animal are strongly colored with spots and plates of a brownish red, intermingled with other yellowish spots. The middle portion is frequently crossed by a brown band. The respiratory tube is long, rather large, continued to and terminating in a large pulmonary cavity, the use of which is to assist respiration. Upon one side of this cavity are two pectinated branchiae, one large, and the other small. Upon the opposite side are situated, in female specimens, the rectum and the uterus ; and in the male a deferential canal and a penis. On this same side are fixed, at the upper part of the cavity, the mucous follicles, composed of seven or eight transverse plates. The tongue is small, slender, pointed, fleshy, without any trace of a ribbon of horn. It is contained in an incurved sheath, and rarely protruded from it. The stomach is very narrow, and does not differ in size from the rest of the intestinal canal. The rectum is pretty large, terminated by an anus slightly narrowed and pointed. The liver, which is voluminous, forms a great part of the convoluted portion, and extends almost throughout the spire. The heart and the auricle are very much developed, contained in a pericardium, and situated at the base of the branchiae. The cerebral ganglion is broad and flattened ; it sends out numerous nervous filaments which ramify over the whole body. The penis of the male is considerable and situated upon the same side. Kiener (1840). General species and iconography of recent shells
: comprising the Massena Museum, the collection of

Lamarck Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, chevalier de Lamarck (1 August 1744 – 18 December 1829), often known simply as Lamarck (; ), was a French naturalist, biologist, academic, and soldier. He was an early proponent of the idea that biolog ...

, the collection of the Museum of Natural History, and the recent discoveries of travellers; Boston :W.D. Ticknor,1837 This genus are voracious

nocturnal Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...

predators Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill the ...

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "t ...

crustaceans Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

on sandy bottoms, capable of eating

crabs Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...

as large as themselves.

Distribution

This marine species is circumtropical, except the western Atlantic Ocean. It also occurs off Australia (

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

Species

Species in the genus ''Harpa'' include: * ''

Harpa amouretta ''Harpa amouretta'', common name the lesser harp, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Harpidae, the harp snails. Description As ''Harpa harpa'', up to 7 cm, with 11–14 axial ribs and higher spire. Col ...

'' Röding, 1798 * ''

Harpa articularis ''Harpa articularis'', common name the articulate harp shell, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Harpidae, the harp snails. Description The size of the shell varies between 50 mm and 110 mm. The r ...

'' Lamarck, 1822 * ''

Harpa cabriti ''Harpa cabriti'', previously known as ''Harpa ventricosa'' Lamarck, 1816,Rehder H. A. (1992). "''Harpa cabriti'' Fischer, 1860, a replacement name for ''Harpa ventricosa'' Lamarck, 1816". '' The Nautilus'' 106(3)123124. common name the ventral ...

'' P. Fischer, 1860 * ''

Harpa costata ''Harpa costata'', common name the ribbed harp, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by m ...

'' (Linnaeus, 1758) * ''

Harpa crenata ''Harpa crenata'', common name the Panama harp, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Harpidae, the harp snails. Description The size of the shell varies between 50 mm and 100 mm. Distribution This m ...

'' Swainson, 1822 * ''

Harpa davidis ''Harpa davidis'', common name the Madras harp or David harp, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or ...

'' Röding, 1798 * ''

Harpa doris ''Harpa doris'', common name the rose harp, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Harpidae, the harp snails. Description The size of the shell varies between 30 mm and 81 mm. The rather thin shell is ...

'' Röding, 1798 * '' Harpa goodwini'' Rehder, 1993 * '' Harpa gracilis'' Broderip & G. B. Sowerby I, 1829 * ''

Harpa harpa ''Harpa harpa'', common name the true harp or the noble harp, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Harpidae, the harp snails. Description The size of the shell varies between 40 mm and 110 mm. The o ...

'' (Linnaeus, 1758) * '' Harpa kajiyamai'' Habe, 1970 * '' Harpa kolaceki'' T. Cossignani, 2011 * '' Harpa lorenzi'' D. Monsecour & K. Monsecour, 2018 * ''

Harpa major ''Harpa major'', common name large harp, or major harp,The Encyclopedia of Shells 1998 Kenneth R. Wye is a species of large predatory sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusks in the family Harpidae, the harp snails and their allies.Rosenberg, G. ...

'' Röding, 1798 * '' Harpa queenslandica'' Berschauer & Petuch, 2016 ;Species brought into synonymy: * ''Harpa conoidalis'' Lamarck, 1822 * ''Harpa crassa'' Krauss, 1848 * ''Harpa fulvomichaelensis'' Orga, 1999 * ''Harpa kawamurai'' Habe, 1970 * ''Harpa laetifica'' Melvill, 1916 * ''Harpa ligata'' Menke, 1828 * ''Harpa minor'' Lamarck, 1822 * ''Harpa multicostata'' G. B. Sowerby I, 1822 * ''Harpa nablium'' Mörch, 1852 * † '' Harpa neozelanica'' Suter, 1917 * ''Harpa nobilis'' Lamarck, 1822 * † '' Harpa pulligera'' Tate, 1889 * ''Harpa robusta'' Röding, 1798 * ''Harpa rosea'' Lamarck, 1816 * ''Harpa striata]'' Lamarck, 1816 * ''Harpa ventricosa'' Lamarck, 1816 * ''Harpa ventricosa'' Lamarck, 1801 ;Nomen dubium: * ''Harpa urniformis'' Perry, 1811 Image:Harpa amouretta 01.JPG, ''

'' Image:Harpa articularis 01.JPG, ''

'' Image:Hventricosawithshell.png, '' Harpa ventricosa'' Image:Harpa davidis 01.JPG, ''

'' Image:Harpa harpa 01.jpg, ''

'' Image:Harpa doris (2763438292).jpg, ''

'' Image:Prosobranchia Trio.jpg, ''

References

* Röding, P.F. 1798. ''Museum Boltenianum sive Catalogus cimeliorum e tribus regnis naturae quae olim collegerat Joa''. Hamburg : Trappii 199 pp. * Wilson, B. 1994. ''Australian Marine Shells. Prosobranch Gastropods.'' Kallaroo, WA : Odyssey Publishing Vol. 2 370 pp. * Poppe G.T., Brulet T. & Dance S.P. (1999). ''The family Harpidae.'' Conchological Iconography. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. 69pp.

External links

Harpa Photo Essay
{{Taxonbar, from=Q146930 Taxa named by Peter Friedrich Röding Gastropod genera