''Lunella undulata'', common name the common warrener or the lightning turban, 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 ...

, 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 ...

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 ...

Turbinidae Turbinidae, the turban snails, are a family of small to large marine gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Trochoidea.Bouchet, P. (2014). Turbinidae Rafinesque, 1815. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecie ...

Description

The size of the shell varies between 33 mm and 75 mm. The solid, umbilicate shell has a depressed-globose shape. It is bright green, longitudinally strigate with white under a brown epidermis. The color pattern is sometimes unicolored green, or with the white strigations broken into tessellations. The obtuse

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 dome-shaped, or low-conic and contains five

whorl A whorl ( or ) is an individual circle, oval, volution or equivalent in a whorled pattern, which consists of a spiral or multiple concentric objects (including circles, ovals and arcs). Whorls in nature File:Photograph and axial plane floral ...

s. The upper ones are sometimes angulate, spirally lirate with the lirae wider than their interstices, on 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 ...

often subobsolete. The last whorl descends, and is somewhat concave below the suture. The oval

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 white within. 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 ...

has a very wide white flattened callus which extends over the umbilical tract. The umbilicus is wide and deep.G.W. Tryon (1888), Manual of Conchology X; Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia
(described as ''Turbo undulatus''), page 216. File:Lunella undulatus 003.jpg, top view File:Lunella undulatus 002.jpg, apertural view

Distribution

This marine species is endemic to Australia and occurs off

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

and

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 ...

Ecology

The species is a dominant feature of

shell midden A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofact ...

s in southeast Australia, archaeological sites created by humans consuming the animal.

References

* Lightfoot, J. 1786. ''A catalogue of the Portland Museum, lately the property of the Duchess Dowager of Portland: deceased which will be sold by auction, by Mr. Skinner and Co., etc.'' London viii, 194 pp. + 44 pp. * Gmelin J.F. 1791. ''Caroli a Linné. Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Lipsiae'' : Georg. Emanuel. Beer Vermes. Vol. 1(Part 6) pp. 3021–3910. * Tenison-Woods, J.E. 1877. ''On some new Tasmanian marine shells''. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania 1876: 131–159 * Cotton, B.C. 1959. ''South Australian Mollusca. Archaeogastropoda. Handbook of the Flora and Fauna of South Australia''. Adelaide : South Australian Government Printer 449 pp. * Iredale, T. & McMichael, D.F. 1962. ''A reference list of the marine Mollusca of New South Wales''. Memoirs of the Australian Museum 11: 1–109 * Macpherson, J.H. 1966. ''Port Philip Survey 1957–1963''. Memoirs of the National Museum of Victoria, Melbourne 27: 201–288 * Wilson, B. 1993. ''Australian Marine Shells. Prosobranch Gastropods''. Kallaroo, Western Australia : Odyssey Publishing Vol. 1 408 pp. * Wilson, B. 2002. ''A Handbook to Australian Seashells on Seashores East to West and North to South''. Sydney : Reed New Holland 185 pp * : Alf A. & Kreipl K. (2003). ''A Conchological Iconography: The Family Turbinidae, Subfamily Turbininae, Genus Turbo''. Conchbooks, Hackenheim Germany.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lunella Undulata undulata Gastropods of Australia Gastropods described in 1786