''Steromphala cineraria'' 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 small

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

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.MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Steromphala cineraria (Linnaeus, 1758). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1039839 on 2020-12-30

Description

The size of the shell varies between 12 mm and 18 mm. The thick, narrowly umbilicate, rarely imperforate shell has a conical, thick shape. It is cinereous, densely marked with numerous narrow longitudinal brown or reddish lines, or broader stripes. The 6

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 ...

are flattened, with 7 or 8 thread-like spiral ridges on the upper surface of 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 ...

, with often one or two finer striae between each ridge, and about a dozen fine ridge-like striae on the under side. The

is angulate at the periphery, somewhat convex beneath. 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 subrhomboidal and smooth within. The

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 straightened in the middle. 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 ...

is narrow.Tryon (1889), Manual of Conchology XI, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia
/ref>

Distribution

This species occurs in 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 ...

, 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 ...

, and in the Atlantic Ocean (

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

References

* Lowe, R. T. (1861). A list of shells observed or collected at Mogador and in its immediate environs, during a few days' visit to the place, in April 1859. i>Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1860: 169-204 * Backeljau, T. (1986). ''Lijst van de recente mariene mollusken van België

ist of the recent marine molluscs of Belgium #REDIRECT Ist {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...

'' Koninklijk Belgisch Instituut voor Natuurwetenschappen: Brussels, Belgium. 106 pp. * Gofas, S.; Le Renard, J.; Bouchet, P. (2001). Mollusca, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). ''European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification.'' Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp. 180–213 * Muller, Y. (2004). ''Faune et flore du littoral du Nord, du Pas-de-Calais et de la Belgique: inventaire. oastal fauna and flora of the Nord, Pas-de-Calais and Belgium: inventory'' Commission Régionale de Biologie Région Nord Pas-de-Calais: France. 307 pp.

External links

Linnaeus, C. (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata [10th revised edition], vol. 1: 824 pp. Laurentius Salvius: Holmiae

Blainville H. M. D. de. (1828-1830). Malacozoaires ou Animaux Mollusques. [in
Faune Française. Levrault, Paris 320 p., 48 pl. [livr. 18 (29 Nov. 1828), p. 1-80; livr. 20 (7 March 1829), p. 81-170; livr. 23 (1 Aug. 1829), p. 171-240; livr. 28 (3 July 1830), p. 241-320]
Vermes. In: Gmelin J.F. (Ed.) Caroli a Linnaei Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Ed. 13. Tome 1(6). G.E. Beer, Lipsiae [Leipzig]. pp. 3021-3910

Thorpe C. (1844). British marine conchology; Being a descriptive catalogue, arranged according to the Lamarckian system, of the salt water shells of Great Britain. London: Edward Lumley. l + 267 pp.

Potiez V. L. V. & Michaud A. L. G. (1838-1844). Galerie des Mollusques ou catalogue méthodique, descriptif et raisonné des Mollusques et Coquilles du Muséum de Douai. Paris, Baillière. Vol. 1: pp. 560 + XXXV [1838]. Vol. 2

Aradas A. (1847). Descrizione delle conchiglie fossili di Gravitelli presso Messina. Atti dell'Accademia Gioenia di Scienze Naturali (2) 4: 57-88

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

Pallary, P. (1920). Exploration scientifique du Maroc organisée par la Société de Géographie de Paris et continuée par la Société des Sciences Naturelles du Maroc. Deuxième fascicule. Malacologie. i>Larose, Rabat et Paris pp. 108. 1(1): map

Affenzeller S., Haar N. & Steiner G. (2017). Revision of the genus complex Gibbula: an integrative approach to delineating the Eastern Mediterranean genera Gibbula Risso, 1826, Steromphala Gray, 1847, and Phorcus Risso, 1826 using DNA-barcoding and geometric morphometrics (Vetigastropoda, Trochoidea). Organisms Diversity & Evolution. 17(4): 789-812.

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from1=Q61701154, from2=Q627713

cineraria ''Cineraria'' is a genus of flowering plants in the sunflower family, native primarily to southern Africa with a few species further north. The genus includes herbaceous plants and small subshrubs. In the past, the genus was commonly viewed in ...

Gastropods described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Molluscs of the Atlantic Ocean Molluscs of the Mediterranean Sea Molluscs of the Azores Molluscs of the Canary Islands Fauna of the North Sea Invertebrates of North Africa