''Steromphala pennanti'' 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 pennanti (Philippi, 1846). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1039846 on 2020-12-30]
The species was named in honor of
Thomas Pennant
Thomas Pennant (16 December 1798) was a Welsh natural history, naturalist, traveller, writer and antiquarian. He was born and lived his whole life at his family estate, Downing Hall, near Whitford, Flintshire, in Wales.
As a naturalist he had ...
(1726 – 1798), a Welsh naturalist.
Description
The size of the shell varies between 10 mm and 16 mm. The shell is more depressed than ''
Gibbula cineraria'', and (although the base is flatter) never inclined to a pyramidal form. The spiral ridges are sharper and fewer, especially in the young. The present species is usually more widely umbilicate and broader than ''Gibbula cineraria''. The coloring is different; both have a similar kind of marking, but in the present species the longitudinal rays or streaks are red, besides being broader and not half so many as in the other species. And they are sometimes zigzag, instead of being broken into spots or interrupted by the
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 ...
. This species is striped, the other lineated. Just within 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 ...
are two borders, one of yellow, the other of green variegated by red spots. This edging is minutely tubercled like shagreen.
Tryon (1889), Manual of Conchology XI, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia
(described as ''Gibbula obliquata'')
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 ...
and off Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
.
References
* Gmelin J. F., 1791: ''Caroli Linnaei systema Naturae per regna tria naturae. Editio decimatertia, aucta, reformata, Vermes Testacea''; Leipzig ipsiae1 (6): 3021-3910
* 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''. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1860: 169-204 1860" London.
* 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
External links
www.anemoon.org
*
* ibbula pennanti (Philippi, 1846) Aradas A., 1847: ''Descrizione delle conchiglie fossili di Gravitelli presso Messina''; Atti dell'Accademia Gioenia di Scienze Naturali (2) 4: 57-88
Monterosato T. A. (di), 1888-1889: ''Molluschi del Porto di Palermo. Specie e varietà''; Bullettino della Società Malacologica Italiana, Pisa 13 (1888[1889?]): 161-180 14 (1889): 75-81
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
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q61701160, from2=Q2072993
pennanti
Gastropods described in 1846
Taxa named by Rodolfo Amando Philippi