Arctomelon benthale

Arctomelon benthale
Shell of Arctomelon benthale
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Neogastropoda
Family:	Volutidae
Genus:	Arctomelon
Species:	A. benthale
Binomial name
Arctomelon benthale (Dall, 1896)
Synonyms
Scaphella benthalisDall, 1896

Arctomelon benthale is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Volutidae, the volutes. ^[1]

Description

The height of the shell attains 125 mm, its diameter 60 mm.

(Original description) The shell recalls Odontocymbiola magellanica (Gmelin, 1791) but is stouter, has more rounded whorls. The aperture is shorter and wider, with a broad flexure where the lip turns to meet the body whorl, while in O. magellanlca the posterior part of the aperture is pointed; the latter has two strong plaits on the columella; Arctomelon benthale has three, all obsolete, the middle one most perceptible, and has a less marked canal and siphonal fasciole.

The interior of the aperture is pale flesh color; the exterior seems to have been like that of Odontocymbiola magellanica, but is almost entirely decorticated. It has five whorls beside the nucleus, and there is no operculum. ^[2]

Distribution

The holotype of this marine species was found in the Gulf of Panama; occurs also in the Pacific Ocean off Peru.

References

1. Arctomelon benthalis (Dall, 1896) . Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species  on 25 April 2010.
2. Dall, W. H. (1896). Diagnoses of new species of mollusks from the west coast of America. Proceedings of the United States National Museum. 18 (1034): 7-20 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .

• Bail, P.; Poppe, G.T. (2001). A conchological iconography: a taxonomic introduction of the recent Volutidae. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. 30 pp, 5 pl.
• Ramírez, R.; Paredes, C.; Arenas, J. (2003). Moluscos del Perú. Revista de Biologia Tropical. 51(supplement 3): 225-284.