''Astele subcarinata'', common name the subcarinate top shell, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

sea snail Sea snails are slow-moving marine (ocean), marine gastropod Mollusca, molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the Taxonomic classification, taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguishe ...

, a marine

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

mollusk Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Calliostomatidae Calliostomatidae is a family of sea snails within the superfamily Trochoidea and the clade Vetigastropoda.Gofas, S. (2013). Calliostomatidae. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetail ...

.Rosenberg, G. (2012). ''Astele subcarinata'' Swainson, 1855. Accessed through:

World Register of Marine Species The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms. Content The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...

at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=467151 on 2012-12-07

Taxonomy and nomenclature

Some authors place this taxon in the subgenus ''Astele (Astele)''. This species was the first marine mollusc to be described in an Australian scientific journal, by

William Swainson William Swainson Fellow of the Linnean Society, FLS, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (8 October 1789 – 6 December 1855), was an English ornithologist, Malacology, malacologist, Conchology, conchologist, entomologist and artist. Life Swains ...

in the ''Papers and proceedings of the Royal Society of

Van Diemen’s Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania during the European exploration and colonisation of Australia in the 19th century. The Aboriginal-inhabited island was first visited by the Dutch ship captained by Abel Tasm ...

'' (read before the Society March 1854, published 1855). The name ''Astele'' signifies lack of a columnella.

Description

The size of the shell varies between 25 mm and 40 mm. The rather thin shell has a depressed-conical shape and is broader than high. It is broadly and profoundly umbilicated. It has a pale, yellowish flesh-color, painted with tawny flammules and sparsely spotted. The seven

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). In nature File:Photograph and axial plane floral diagra ...

s are plane, and transversely deeply lirate. The lirae are unequal. The whorls are subdistant, and angulate at the sutures. The

body whorl The body whorl is part of the morphology (biology), morphology of the gastropod shell, 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 ...

is granulose around the

umbilicus Umbilicus may refer to: *The navel or belly button *Umbilicus (mollusc), a feature of gastropod, Nautilus and Ammonite shell anatomy *Umbilicus (plant), ''Umbilicus'' (plant), a genus of over ninety species of perennial flowering plants *Umbilicus ...

. The umbilicus is white on the inside. The

aperture In optics, the aperture of an optical system (including a system consisting of a single lens) is the hole or opening that primarily limits light propagated through the system. More specifically, the entrance pupil as the front side image o ...

is sulcate inside.Tryon (1889), Manual of Conchology XI, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia
(described as ''Calliostoma adamsi'')

Distribution

This marine species occurs off

Southern Australia Southern Australia is generally considered to consist of the states and territories of Australia of New South Wales, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory (Canberra), Tasmania and South Australia. The part of Western Australia south of ...

and

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

References

External links

Encyclopedia of Life

USNM Invertebrate Zoology Mollusca Collection

World Register of Marine Species
* * Original description: BHLp. 36
figures 1 & 2 o
plate VI
U.Tas. Open Access Repositor
item
(PDF). {{Taxonbar, from=Q4810614 subcarinata Gastropods described in 1855