''Rochia maxima'' 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, a marine gastropod

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 group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Tegulidae Tegulidae is a family of small to large sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Trochoidea (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005).Bouchet, P. (2013). Tegulidae Kuroda, Habe & Oyama, 1971. Access ...

.MolluscaBase eds. (2022). MolluscaBase. Rochia maxima (Koch, 1844). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1251283 on 2022-08-20

Distribution

This marine species occurs off the

Fiji Islands Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

and Indo-Malaysia.

Description

The height of the shell attains 95 mm, its diameter also 95 mm. The shell is less ponderous than ''

Tectus niloticus ''Rochia nilotica'', common name the commercial top shell, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Tegulidae.MolluscaBase eds. (2022). MolluscaBase. Rochia nilotica (Linnaeus, 1767). Accessed through: World Register o ...

''. Its form is strictly conical. The whorls of 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 a ...

are decidedly plicate or tuberculate, planulate. The body whorl is not dilated at the periphery. The flat base is concentrically grooved. 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 less oblique than in the type. This species was first considered an arrested or primitive form of ''Tectus niloticus'', as in the conic form, flat, lirate base, and sculptured spire, it exactly resembles an immature specimen of the latter species. But in 1869 Dr. von Martens considered them different species.Dr. von Martens, Ann. and Mag. N. H., 1869, p. 97

References

External links

Philippi, R. A. (1842-1850). Abbildungen und Beschreibungen neuer oder wenig gekannter Conchylien unter Mithülfe mehrerer deutscher Conchyliologen. Cassel, T. Fischer: Vol. 1: 1-20

Williams, S. T. (2012). Advances in molecular systematics of the vetigastropod superfamily Trochoidea. Zoologica Scripta. 41(6): 571-595
{{Taxonbar, from2=Q7692875, from1=Q106307817 maxima Gastropods described in 1844