''Oenopota pyramidalis'',
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 pyramid lora, is a species 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 in the
family Mangeliidae.
Description
The length of the shell varies between 10 mm and 23.5 mm.
The shell has usually a rather high
spire with seven or eight tolerably convex
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, scarcely or not at all shouldered. It shows 13 to 16 sigmoid ribs, fading out about or above the middle of 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 ...
. There are numerous, fine, close revolving lines, sometimes not apparent on the ribs. The color of the shell is pale chestnut, when fresh. The species varies considerably in the elevation of the spire and in ther stoutness, as well as in the development of the ribs.
G.W. Tryon (1884) Manual of Conchology, structural and systematic, with illustrations of the species, vol. VI; Philadelphia, Academy of Natural Sciences
(described as ''Bela pyramidalis'')
Distribution
This species occurs in European waters, the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, the Arctic waters of Canada, the Gulf of Maine. Fossils have been found in Quaternary
The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ...
strata of Iceland (age range: 0.126 to 0.012 Ma).
References
*
* Ström H. (1788). ''Beskrivelse over Norske Insecter, femte Styffe.''. Nye Samling af det Kongelige Danske Videnskabers Selskabs Skrivter 3: 264–300
Couthouy, J.P., 1839. ''Descriptions of new species of Mollusca and shells, and remarks on several polypi found in Massachusetts Bay.'' Boston J. nat. Hist. 2 : 53–111
Möller H.P.C. (1842). ''Index Molluscorum Groenlandiae''. Naturhistorisk Tidsskrift [Copenhagen] 4: 76–97
Leche W. (1878). ''Öfversigt öfver de af svenska expeditionerna till Novaja Semlja och Jenissej 1875 och 1876 insamlade''. Hafsmollusker. Kungliga Svenska Vetenskaps-Akademiens Handlingar, N.F., 16(2): 1–86, pl. 1–2
Sars, G.O. (1878). ''Bidrag til Kundskaben om Norges arktiske Fauna. I. Mollusca Regionis Arcticae Norvegiae''. Oversigt over de i Norges arktiske Region Forekommende Bløddyr. Brøgger, Christiania. xiii + 466 pp., pls 1–34 & I-XVIII
* Abbott, R.T. (1974). ''American Seashells''. 2nd ed. Van Nostrand Reinhold: New York, NY (USA). 663 pp.
* Linkletter, L.E. (1977) ''A checklist of marine fauna and flora of the Bay of Fundy''. Huntsman Marine Laboratory, St. Andrews, N.B. 68 p.
* Gofas, S.; Le Renard, J.; Bouchet, P. (2001). Mollusca, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). ''European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification''. Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp. 180–213.
Trott, T.J. 2004. ''Cobscook Bay inventory: a historical checklist of marine invertebrates spanning 162 years.'' Northeastern Naturalist (Special Issue 2): 261–324
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oenopota pyramidalis
pyramidalis
Gastropods described in 1788