''Euspira nitida'', the common necklace 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 ...

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

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 ...

Naticidae Naticidae, common name moon snails or necklace shells, is a family (biology), family of medium to large-sized predatory sea snails, marine (ocean), marine gastropod molluscs in the clade Littorinimorpha. The shells of the species in this family a ...

, the moon snails.Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S. (2015). Euspira nitida (Donovan, 1804). In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=151894 on 2015-06-21

Distribution

The common necklace shell is a common sea snail occurring in the

sublittoral zone The neritic zone (or sublittoral zone) is the relatively shallow part of the ocean above the drop-off of the continental shelf, approximately in depth. From the point of view of marine biology it forms a relatively stable and well-illuminated ...

and deeper waters (exceptionally up to 2,000 m) along sandy coasts of the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

, from France to Norway, and the North East Atlantic (

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

). It is also common in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

. It can be frequently found in great numbers washed ashore on beaches. It has been present in the North Sea since the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58spire 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 ...

: max. 16 mm high and 14 mm wide. The shell has a rather pointed

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 ...

. There are 5 to 6 gently convex

whorls 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 diagram ...

with an undeep suture. The body whorl is strongly rounded and covers almost the whole shell. 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 rather ovate and has a smooth outer lip. A

siphonal canal The siphonal canal is an anatomical feature of the shells of certain groups of sea snails within the clade Neogastropoda. Some sea marine gastropods have a soft tubular anterior extension of the mantle called a siphon through which water i ...

is lacking. The umbilicus is partly covered with a callus. The horny operculum is composed of corneous material. The surface of the shell is smooth and shiny and lacks

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

. Its color is a pale brown-yellow stained with orange to red-brown spots, arranged in four to five spiral lines. The shell of washed up specimens shows often a blue-black discoloration.

Taxonomy

''Euspira nitida'' ''(Donovan, 1804)'' is the earliest available name for the common, shallow water, small-sized ''Euspira'' species that, in the Atlantic, has been called ''alderi'', and in the Mediterranean has been called ''pulchella''. Donovan's name was based on albino specimens of this species, which is why the name ''nitida'' has in the past been wrongly rejected by some authors as that of an "exotic" or "tropical" species. There are many synonyms for this species WoRMS Euspira pulchella
/ref> * ''Euspira poliana'' (Delle Chiaje, 1826) * ''Euspira pulchella'' (Risso, 1826) * ''Lunatia alderi'' (Forbes, 1838) * ''Lunatia intermedia'' (Philippi, 1836) * ''Lunatia poliana'' (Della Chiaje, 1826) * ''Lunatia pulchella'' (Risso, 1826) * ''Lunatica nitida'' (Donovan, 1804) * ''Natica alderi'' Forbes, 1838 * ''Natica alderi'' var. ''elata'' Bucquoy, Dautzenberg & Dollfus, 1883 * ''Natica alderi'' var. ''globulosa'' Bucquoy, Dautzenberg & Dollfus, 1883 * ''Natica alderi'' var. ''lactea'' Jeffreys, 1867 * ''Natica alderi'' var. ''subovalis'' Jeffreys, 1867 * ''Natica alderi'' var. ''ventricosa'' Jeffreys, 1867 * ''Natica complanata'' Locard, 1886 * ''Natica intermedia'' Philippi, 1836 (Invalid: junior homonym of ''Natica intermedia'' Deshayes, 1832) * ''Natica neustriaca'' Locard, 1886 * ''Natica nitida'' (Donovan, 1804) * ''Natica parvula'' Tapparone Canefri, 1869 * ''Natica poliana'' Delle Chiaje, 1826 * ''Natica pulchella'' Risso, 1826 * ''Nerita nitida'' Donovan, 1804 (original combination) * ''Nerita poliana'' Delle Chiaje, 1830 * ''Polinices (Euspira) pulchellus'' (Risso, 1826) * ''Polinices (Lunatia) alderi'' (Forbes, 1838) * ''Polinices (Lunatia) intermedia'' (Philippi, 1836) * ''Polinices (Lunatia) poliana'' (Delle Chiaje, 1826) * ''Polinices alderi'' (Forbes, 1838) * ''Polinices pulchella'' (Risso, 1826)

References

* Huelsken T., Marek K., Schreiber S., Schmidt I. & Hollmann M. (2008). ''The Naticidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) of Giglio Island (Tuscany, Italy): Shell characters, live animals, and a molecular analysis of egg masses.'' Zootaxa 1770: 1-40

Sources

* Partly based on the Duch article : :nl:Glanzende tepelhoren

External links

* http://www.marbef.org/data/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=140539
Donovan E. (1799-1804). The natural history of British shells: including figures and descriptions of all the species hitherto discovered in Great Britain, systematically arranged in the Linnean manner, with scientific and general observations on each. 5 volumes, London, printed for the Author, and for F. and C. Rivington, 180 plates with unpaginated text. Vol. 1: introduction 3 pp; pl. 1-18 [1799]; pl. 19–36; index 10 pp. [1800] . Vol. 2: pl. 37-54 [1800]; pl. 55–72, index 10 pp. [1801]. Vol. 3: pl. 73-90 [1801]; pl. 91–108, index 8 pp. [1802]; Vol. 4: pl. 109-126 [1802]; pl. 127–144, index 8 pp [1803]. Vol. 5: pl. 145-162 [1803]; pl.163-180, index 7 pp. [1804]

Risso, A. (1826-1827). Histoire naturelle des principales productions de l'Europe Méridionale et particulièrement de celles des environs de Nice et des Alpes Maritimes. Paris, Levrault:. . 3(XVI): 1-480, 14 pls

Forbes, E. (1838). Malacologia Monensis: a catalogue of the Mollusca inhabiting the Isle of Man and the neighbouring sea. Edinburgh: J. Carfrae and son pp. XII + 63 + 3 pl

Philippi, R. A. (1836). Enumeratio molluscorum Siciliae cum viventium tum in tellure tertiaria fossilium, quae in itinere suo observavit. Vol. 1. I-XIV, 1-303, Tab. XIII-XXVIII. Schropp, Berlin

Locard A. (1886). Prodrome de malacologie française. Catalogue général des mollusques vivants de France. Mollusque marins. Lyon, H. Georg & Paris, Baillière : pp. X + 778

Delle Chiaje S. (1823-1831). Memorie sulla storia e notomia degli animali senza vertebre del regno di Napoli. Napoli: Fratelli Fernandes (vol. 1), and Società Tipografica (vol. 2-4). Vol. 1, pp. i-xii, 1-84 [1823], pp. 1–184 [1824]; vol. 2, pp. [1-4] + 185-224 [1825], pp. 225–444 [1826]; vol. 3, pp. i-xx, pp. 1–232 [1828]; vol. 4, pp. i-vii [1831], 1-116 [1830], pp. 117–214 [1831]; pl. 1-4; pl. 1-69 [date?], pl. 70-109

Bucquoy E., Dautzenberg P. & Dollfus G. (1882-1886). Les mollusques marins du Roussillon. Tome Ier. Gastropodes. Paris: Baillière & fils. 570 pp., 66 pls. [pp. 1-84, pls 1-10, 1882; pp. 85-196, pls 11-20, 1883; pp. 197-342, pls 21-40, 1884; pp. 343-418, pls 41-50, 1885; pp. 419-570, pls 51-66]

Jeffreys J.G. (1862-1869). British conchology. Vol. 1: pp. cxiv + 341 [1862]. Vol. 2: pp. 479 [1864]. Vol. 3: pp. 394 [1865]. Vol. 4: pp. 487 [1867]. Vol. 5: pp. 259 [1869]. London, van Voorst.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1354580 Naticidae Gastropods described in 1804

Distribution

Taxonomy

References

Sources

Further reading

External links