''Pseudovertagus aluco'', common name aluco vertagus or Cuming's cerith, 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), ...
of
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 ...
Cerithiidae
Cerithiidae, common name the cerithiids or ceriths, is a large taxonomic family, family of medium-sized marine (ocean), marine gastropods in the clade Sorbeoconcha.
Distribution
Ceriths are found worldwide on sandy bottoms, reef flats or co ...
, the ceriths.
Distribution
This species is present in the Indo-Pacific from the Eastern Africa to
Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
, and in Australia (
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...
,
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
and
Western Australia
Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...
), the
Samoan Islands
The Samoan Islands () are an archipelago covering in the central Pacific Ocean, South Pacific, forming part of Polynesia and of the wider region of Oceania. Political geography, Administratively, the archipelago comprises all of the Samoa, Indep ...
and
New Caledonia
New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...
.
Habitat
''Pseudovertagus aluco'' can be found on sand-bars at the high tide level, on tidalflats, on clean sand and coralrubble.
[Jenny Sa ¨ lgeback and Enrico Savazz]
Constructional morphology of cerithiform gastropods
/ref>
Description
Shell of ''Pseudovertagus aluco'' can reach a length of .[ This species possess high-spired shells with a small aperture and a few spiral rows of tubercles.
]
Behaviour
These 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 ...
s usually extend their proboscis and foot deep into the sediments, rather than burrowing below the surface.[
]
References
* Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systemae naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differetiis, synonymis, locis.v. Holmiae : Laurentii Salvii 824 pp.
* Born, I. von 1778. ''Index rerum naturalium Musei Caesarei Vindobonensis, pl. 1, Testacea.'' – Verzeichniss etc. Illust. Vindobonae. Vienna : J.P. Krauss xlii 458 pp.
* Bruguière, M. 1792. ''Encyclopédie Méthodique ou par ordre de matières. Histoire naturelle des vers''. Paris : Panckoucke Vol. 1 i–xviii, 757 pp.
* Adams, H. & Adams, A. 1854. ''The genera of Recent Mollusca arranged according to their organization''. London : John Van Voorst Vol. 1(IX-XV) pp. 257–484, pls 33–60.
* Sowerby, G.B. 1855. ''Thesaurus Conchyliorum, or monographs of genera of shells.'' London : Sowerby Vol. 2(16) 847–899, pls 176–186.
* Kobelt, W. 1898. ''Die Gattung Cerithium Lam''. 201–297, pls 37–47 in Küster, H.C., Martini, F.W. & Chemnitz, J.H. (eds). Systematisches Conchylien-Cabinet von Martini und Chemnitz. Nürnberg : Bauer & Raspe Vol. 1.
* Thiele, J. 1931. ''Handbuch der Systematischen Weichtierkunde''. Jena : Gustav Fischer Vol. 2 pp. 377–778.
* Hirase, S. & Taki, I. 1951. ''A handbook of illustrated shells in natural colors from the Japanese Islands and adjacent territories.'' Tokyo : Bunkyokaku xxiv, 134 pp.
* Wilson, B.R. & Gillett, K. 1971. ''Australian Shells: illustrating and describing 600 species of marine gastropods found in Australian waters.'' Sydney : Reed Books 168 pp.
* Cernohorsky, W.O. 1972. ''The taxonomy of some Indo-Pacific Mollusca with descriptions of new species.'' Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum 9: 195–204
* Houbrick, R.S. 1978. ''The family Cerithiidae in the Indo-Pacific. Part I. The genera Rhinoclavis, Pseudovertagus and Clavocerithium.'' Monographs of Marine Mollusca 1: 1–130
* Wilson, B. 1993. ''Australian Marine Shells. Prosobranch Gastropods.'' Kallaroo, Western Australia : Odyssey Publishing Vol. 1 408 pp.
External links
CERITHIIDAE
Shell Encyclopedia
*
Bibliography
* Dautzenberg, Ph. (1929). ''Contribution à l'étude de la faune de Madagascar: Mollusca marina testacea''. Faune des colonies françaises, III(fasc. 4). Société d'Editions géographiques, maritimes et coloniales: Paris. 321–636, plates IV-VII pp.
* Petit R.E. (2009) ''George Brettingham Sowerby, I, II & III: their conchological publications and molluscan taxa''. Zootaxa 2189: 1–218.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7255703
Cerithiidae
Gastropods described in 1758
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus