Neptuneopsis gilchristi

Neptuneopsis gilchristi
A shell of Neptuneopsis gil
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Neogastropoda
Family:	Volutidae
Genus:	Neptuneopsis
Species:	N. gilchristi
Binomial name
Neptuneopsis gilchristi G.B. Sowerby III, 1898

Neptuneopsis gilchristi, common name the Gilchrist's volute, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Volutidae, the volutes.[1]

Description

The length attains 240 mm, but is usually between 120 mm and 150 mm. [2]

The shell is large and light. The spire is high with convex ( outward) whorls and indented suture. The sculpture consists of very fine, dense spiral threads. The aperture is wide, somewhat flaring and tapering to a short siphonal canal. The inner lip lacks pleats, but shows a thin, smooth callus glaze. The protoconch (apex) is bud-shaped and disproportionately large. The operculum is smaller than the aperture. [2]

The shell is pale buff to light orange-brown, covered by a thin, matte olive-brown periostracum. Some specimens display faint, diffuse paler spiral bands. [2]

Distribution

This marine species is endemic to South Africa and occurs off the West and South coast, Agulhas Bank, at depths between 60 m and 500 m. [2]

References

1. Neptuneopsis gilchristi Sowerby III, 1898. Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 25 April 2010.
2. Herbert, D.G., Jones, G.J. & Atkinson, L.J. (2018). Phylum Mollusca. In: Atkinson, L.J. and Sink, K.J. (eds) Field Guide to the Offshore Marine Invertebrates of South Africa. Pretoria: Malachite Marketing and Media. p. 289. doi:10.15493/SAEON.PUB.10000001. ISBN 978-1-86868-098-6. Retrieved 17 October 2024. This article incorporates text from this source, which is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.

• Aiken R.P. (2010) Volutidae. pp. 314–333, in: Marais A.P. & Seccombe A.D. (eds), Identification guide to the seashells of South Africa. Volume 1. Groenkloof: Centre for Molluscan Studies. 376 pp
• Bail, P.; Poppe, G.T. (2001). A conchological iconography: a taxonomic introduction of the recent Volutidae. Hackenheim: Conchbooks. pp. 1–30.
• Steyn, D. G.; Lussi, M. (2005). Offshore Shells of Southern Africa: A pictorial guide to more than 750 Gastropo. published by the authors. p. 170.

External links

• Sowerby, G.B. III (1898). "Description of a new South African marine gasteropod". Marine Investigations in South Africa. 1: 6.
• Harasewych, M.G., Sei, M., Wirshing, H.H., González, V.L. & Uribe, J.E. (2019). "The complete mitochondrial genome of Neptuneopsis gilchristi G.B. Sowerby III, 1898 (Neogastropoda: Volutidae: Calliotectinae)". The Nautilus. 133 (3–4): 67–73.