Amauropsis anderssoni

Amauropsis anderssoni
Shell of Amauropsis anderssoni (specimen at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Littorinimorpha
Family:	Naticidae
Genus:	Amauropsis
Species:	A. anderssoni
Binomial name
Amauropsis anderssoni (Strebel, 1906)
Synonyms
Natica (Neveritia) anderssoniStrebel, 1906 superseded combination Natica anderssoniStrebel, 1906 superseded combination

Amauropsis anderssoni is a species of predatory sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Naticidae, the moon snails. ^[1]

Description

The length of the shell attains 14.9 mm, its diameter 15.6 mm.

The shell is thin but robust, featuring a rhomboidal shape with rounded ends. Its surface is white, overlaid by a gray-olive-green cuticle, with darker stripes indicating earlier growth stages.

The apex and upper whorls are uniformly worn down in both young and mature specimens, obscuring the precise number of whorls. The whorls display a clearly compressed zone near the suture, transitioning into a noticeable curvature, which becomes especially pronounced on the final whorl.

On occasion, the columella partially obscures the umbilicus, leaving only a narrow slit visible.

The sculpture is characterized by very fine growth lines interspersed with coarser ones, creating subtle folds along the compressed zone near the suture. The horny operculum is distinct from the other species in this genus, due to its slower spiral development, positioning the nucleus higher and slightly farther from the left margin. While the suture is highlighted by a delicate raised ridge, the exterior lacks calcareous . ^[2]

The maximum recorded shell length is 22.7 mm. ^[3]

Distribution

This marine species occurs in the South Atlantic Ocean and off the South Georgia and the South Sandwich islands; in the Scotia Sea, Antarctica.

Habitat

Minimum recorded depth is 15 m. ^[3] Maximum recorded depth is 567 m. ^[3]

References

1. Amauropsis anderssoni (Strebel, 1906) . 7 January 2025. Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species .
2. Strebel, H. (1906). "Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Molluskenfauna der Magalhaen-Provinz. No. 4". Zoologische Jahrbücher, Abteilung für Systematik, Geographie und Biologie der Tiere. 24: 142. Retrieved 7 January 2025. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
3. Welch J. J. (2010). "The "Island Rule" and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". PLoS ONE 5(1): e8776. doi : 10.1371/journal.pone.0008776.

• Pastorino, G. (2005). "Recent Naticidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) from the Patagonian coast". The Veliger. 7 (4): 252.

External links

• Torigoe K. & Inaba A. (2011). "Revision on the classification of Recent Naticidae" (PDF). Bulletin of the Nishinomiya Shell Museum. 7: 1–133.
• Griffiths, H.J.; Linse, K.; Crame, J.A. (2003). "SOMBASE - Southern Ocean mollusc database: a tool for biogeographic analysis in diversity and evolution". Organisms Diversity and Evolution. 3: 207–213.