''Livonia mammilla'', common name false melon or false baler, 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 ...
of
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
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 ...
of the genus
Livonia
Livonia ( liv, Līvõmō, et, Liivimaa, fi, Liivinmaa, German and Scandinavian languages: ', archaic German: ''Liefland'', nl, Lijfland, Latvian and lt, Livonija, pl, Inflanty, archaic English: ''Livland'', ''Liwlandia''; russian: Ли ...
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 ...
Volutidae
''Volutidae'', common name volutes, are a taxonomic family of predatory sea snails that range in size from 9 mm to over 500 mm. They are marine gastropod mollusks. Most of the species have no operculum.
Distribution
This family of sea snails ...
, the volutes.
Distribution
This marine species occurs off South East Australia
from Western Victoria to New South Wales, Southern Queensland and Tasmania.
Description
Shells of ''Livonia mammilla'' can reach a size of .
[
These large shells are characterized by a greatly swollen apex and a lightweight protoconch with a diameter of about . Whorls are smooth and rounded, with axial growth lines and weak spiral grooves on the top of the body whorl. ]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 ...
shows four plaits and the outer lip is smooth and flared outwards. The background colour is yellowish-brown or cream, while the inner edge of outer lip may be white or orange. Body whorl usually has two wide spiral bands of axial zigzag brown lines, but this pattern is variable.[Des Beeche]
Sea Shells of NSW
/ref>
The distinctive patterns on the shell are produced by a process analogous to a linear cellular automaton
A cellular automaton (pl. cellular automata, abbrev. CA) is a discrete model of computation studied in automata theory. Cellular automata are also called cellular spaces, tessellation automata, homogeneous structures, cellular structures, tessel ...
and can accordingly resemble fractal
In mathematics, a fractal is a geometric shape containing detailed structure at arbitrarily small scales, usually having a fractal dimension strictly exceeding the topological dimension. Many fractals appear similar at various scales, as illu ...
shapes like the Sierpinski gasket.
Habitat
These moderately common sea snails live in subtidal waters and offshore on sand and mud, at depths of 73 to 457 m., emerging at night to feed.[Molluscs of Tasmania]
/ref>
Bibliography
* A.G. Hinton – Guide to Australian Shells
* Allan, J.K. 1950. Australian Shells: with related animals living in the sea, in freshwater and on the land. Melbourne : Georgian House
* Bail, P & Poppe, G. T. 2001. ''A conchological iconography: a taxonomic introduction of the recent Volutidae''. Hackenheim-Conchbook, 30 pp, 5 pl.
* Barry Wilson – Australian Marine Shells Part 2
* Harald Douté, M. A. Fontana Angioy – Volutes, The Doute collection
* Macpherson, J.H. & Gabriel, C.J. 1962. Marine Molluscs of Victoria. Melbourne : Melbourne University Press & National Museum of Victoria
References
External links
Encyclopedia of life
Volutidae
Gastropods described in 1844
{{Volutidae-stub