Astraea heliotropium

Astraea heliotropium
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 2.3) [1]
Not Threatened (NZ TCS) [2]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Vetigastropoda
Order:	Trochida
Superfamily:	Trochoidea
Family:	Turbinidae
Genus:	Astraea
Species:	A. heliotropium
Binomial name
Astraea heliotropium (Martyn, 1784)
Synonyms [3]
List Astralium heliotropium(Martyn T., 1784) Guildfordia heliophorusGray † Imperator anthropophagusMarwick, 1928 unaccepted (junior subjective synonym) Imperator aureolatusMontfort, 1810 Liotia solitariaSuter, 1908 (junior subjective synonym) Lithopoma heliotropium(Martyn, T., 1784) Solarium radiatumFischer von Waldheim, G., 1807 Trochus heliotropiumMartyn, 1784 (basionym) Trochus imperialisGmelin, 1791

Astraea heliotropium, common name the sunburst star turban or the circular saw shell, is a large, heavy, spirally coiled sea snail with peripheral spines, a marine gastropod mollusc of the family Turbinidae, the turbans and star snails. ^[3]

This large species was brought to Europe for the first time by the famous Captain Cook. ^[4]

Shell description

The height of the shell is up to 60 mm, and the width is up to 120 mm. The large shell has a depressed-conic shape. Below widely it is umbilicate and concave. The spire is dome-shaped, and consists of 5 convex whorls. The suture is rendered zigzag by the prominent compressed triangular recurved vaulted spines which arm the acutely carinated periphery. The whorls above and below contain numerous spiral series of granules. The wide umbilicus is deep, and coarsely obliquely striate within. The aperture is transversely oval, oblique, pearly within. The peristome is continuous. The columella is slightly dilated, impinging upon the umbilicus. The color pattern is brownish or purplish above, light below. ^[4]

Distribution

This marine species is endemic to New Zealand. ^[1]

References

1. Mollusc Specialist Group (2000). "Astraea heliotropium". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2000 e.T2218A9364042. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2000.RLTS.T2218A9364042.en . Retrieved 18 November 2021.
2. Funnell, Greig; et al. (January 2023). Todd, Amanda (ed.). Conservation status of indigenous marine invertebrates in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2021 (PDF) (Report). New Zealand Department of Conservation. p. 38. ISBN   978-1-99-118365-1 . Retrieved 27 September 2024.
3. Astraea heliotropium(Martyn, 1784) . 6 December 2025. Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species .
4. G.W. Tryon (1888), Manual of Conchology X; Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia

• Williams, S.T. (2007). Origins and diversification of Indo-West Pacific marine fauna: evolutionary history and biogeography of turban shells (Gastropoda, Turbinidae). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 92, 573–592.
• Spencer, H.; Marshall. B. (2009). All Mollusca except Opisthobranchia. In: Gordon, D. (Ed.) (2009). New Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity. Volume One: Kingdom Animalia. 584 pp

Further reading

• Powell A W B, New Zealand Mollusca, William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 ISBN   0-00-216906-1
• Glen Pownall, New Zealand Shells and Shellfish, Seven Seas Publishing Pty Ltd, Wellington, New Zealand 1979 ISBN   0-85467-054-8

External links

• "Lithopoma heliotropium". Gastropods.com. Retrieved 15 January 2019.