''Clanculus aloysii'' 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 ...

Trochidae The Trochidae, common name top-snails or top-shells, are a family of various sized sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the subclass Vetigastropoda. This family is commonly known as the top-snails because in many species the shell resembles ...

, the top snails.Rosenberg, G. (2012). ''Clanculus aloysii''
Tenison-Woods, 1876. 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 ...

on November 23, 2012

Description

The height of the shell varies between 8 mm and 9 mm, its diameter between 9 mm and 11 mm. The small, conical shell is carinated and umbilicated. it is whitish or corneous, marked above with zigzag radiating stripes (sometimes broken into dots) of sepia or black, below unicolored white or sparsely dotted with black. The peripheral carina is ornamented with a series of black spots. 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. Spire ...

is rather straightly conical with an acute

apex The apex is the highest point of something. The word may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional entities * Apex (comics) A-Bomb Abomination Absorbing Man Abraxas Abyss Abyss is the name of two characters appearing in Ameri ...

and about six

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. These are separated by subcanaliculate sutures. The upper surface is spirally sculptured with about 6 coarse, conspicuously granose lirae, of which the first and the sixth (or peripheral) are most prominent. The base of the shell is slightly convex, bearing 6 to 7 concentric, coarse, conspicuously granose separated lirae. 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 rhomboidal. The outer

lip The lips are a horizontal pair of soft appendages attached to the jaws and are the most visible part of the mouth of many animals, including humans. Mammal lips are soft, movable and serve to facilitate the ingestion of food (e.g. sucklin ...

is iridescent and plicate within. The basal margin is rounded and denticulate. The oblique

columella Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (, Arabic: ) was a prominent Roman writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire. His in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture and ancient Roman cuisin ...

is nearly straight, slightly folded above and bidentate at its base. The umbilicus has (in fully adult specimens) a crenate marginal rib, white within, and perforating scarcely deeper than the insertion of the columella.Tryon (1889), Manual of Conchology XI, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia
(described as ''Trochus aloysii'')

Distribution

This marine species is endemic to Australia and occurs off

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

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 ...

and Victoria.

References

* Tenison-Woods, J.E. 1876. ''Description of new Tasmanian shells.'' Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania 1875: 134-162 * Tenison-Woods, J.E. 1879. ''Census; with brief descriptions of the marine shells of Tasmania and the adjacent islands''. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania 1877: 26-57 * Tenison-Woods, J.E. 1879. ''On some new Tasmanian marine shells''. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania 1878: 32-40 * Tate, R. & May, W.L. 1901. ''A revised census of the marine Mollusca of Tasmania''. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 26(3): 344-471 * Pritchard, G.B. & Gatliff, J.H. 1902. ''Catalogue of the marine shells of Victoria. Part V''. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 14(2): 85-138 * Chapman, F. & Gabriel, C.J. 1914. ''Descriptions of New and Rare fossils obtained by Deep Boring in the Mallee. ii. Mollusca''. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria XXVI: 301-330, 5 pl * Hardy, G.H. 1916. ''List of the Tenison Woods types of recent molluscs in the Tasmanian Museum''. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania 1915: 68 * Hedley, C. 1917. ''Studies on Australian Mollusca. Part XIII''. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 41: 680-719 * Hedley, C. 1918. ''A checklist of the marine fauna of New South Wales. Part 1''. Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 51: M1-M120 * Cotton, B.C. & Godfrey, F.K. 1934. ''South Australian Shells. Part 11.'' South Australian Naturalist 15(3): 77-92 * 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. & Gabriel, C.J. 1962. ''Marine Molluscs of Victoria''. Melbourne : Melbourne University Press & National Museum of Victoria 475 pp. * 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. Vol. 1''. Odyssey Publishing, Kallaroo, Western Australia, 408 pp * Jansen, P. 1995. ''A review of the genus Clanculus Montfort, 1810 (Gastropoda: Trochidae) in Australia, with description of a new subspecies and the introduction of a nomen novum''. Vita Marina 43(1-2): 39-62

External links

Biodiversity Heritage Library (7 publications)

World Register of Marine Species
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q5125646 aloysii Gastropods of Australia Gastropods described in 1876