''Rapa rapa'', common name the bubble turnip, 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 Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails.
Description
Rapa rapa was first described in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus as ''
Murex rapa''. Its
shell size can range from 40 to 105 mm.
Distribution
Rapa rapa is found near the
Indian Ocean in locations such as
Madagascar, the
Chagos Archipelago
The Chagos Archipelago () or Chagos Islands (formerly the Bassas de Chagas, and later the Oil Islands) is a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 islands in the Indian Ocean about 500 kilometres (310 mi) south of the Maldives archi ...
, and the coasts of
Tanzania, where it was described in 1856 by
Xavier Montrouzier
Reverendus Pater Jean Xavier Hyacinthe Montrouzier (3 December 1820 – 6 May 1897)
was a French Marist priest, explorer, botanist, zoologist and entomologist.
Abbé Montrouzier studied the flora and fauna of Melanesia especially New Caledoni ...
as ''Rapa penardi''. It is also found in the east on the coasts of
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
and the
Philippines.
References
* Lamarck J.B. (1816). Liste des objets représentés dans les planches de cette livraison. In: Tableau encyclopédique et méthodique des trois règnes de la Nature. Mollusques et Polypes divers. Agasse, Paris. 16 pp.
* Nevill, G.; Nevill, H. (1869). Descriptions of marine Gastropoda from Ceylon, etc. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 38(2): 157-164, pl. 17
* Bozzetti L. (2008) Rapana pellucida (Gastropoda: Hypsogastropoda: Muricidae: Rapaninae) nuove specie dal Madagascar Meridionale. Malacologia Mostra Mondiale 58: 5-6.
* Oliverio, M. (2008). Coralliophilinae (Neogastropoda: Muricidae) from the southwest Pacific. in: Héros, V. et al. (Ed.) Tropical Deep-Sea Benthos 25. Mémoires du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (1993). 196: 481-585.
* Steyn, D.G & Lussi, M. (2005). Offshore Shells of Southern Africa: A pictorial guide to more than 750 Gastropods. Published by the authors. Pp. i–vi, 1–289.
* Kilburn R.N., Marais J.P. & Marais A.P. (2010) Coralliophilinae. pp. 272–292, in: Marais A.P. & Seccombe A.D. (eds), Identification guide to the seashells of South Africa. Volume 1. Groenkloof: Centre for Molluscan Studies. 376 pp.
* Liu, J.Y.
uiyu(ed.). (2008). Checklist of marine biota of China seas. China Science Press. 1267 pp.
External links
Röding, P.F. (1798). Museum Boltenianum sive Catalogus cimeliorum e tribus regnis naturæ quæ olim collegerat Joa. Fried Bolten, M. D. p. d. per XL. annos proto physicus Hamburgensis. Pars secunda continens Conchylia sive Testacea univalvia, bivalvia & multivalvia. Trapp, Hamburg. viii, 199 pp.Nevill, G.; Nevill, H. (1869). Descriptions of marine Gastropoda from Ceylon, etc. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 38(2): 157-164, pl. 17Kilburn, R.N. (1977) Taxonomic studies on the marine Mollusca of southern Africa and Mozambique. Part 1. Annals of the Natal Museum, 23, 173–214*'
Rapa rapa' at
WoRMS
Rapa (gastropod)
Gastropods described in 1758
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
{{Coralliophilinae-stub