Bathymophila callomphala

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Bathymophila callomphala
Bathymophila callomphala 001.jpg
Original drawing with three views of a shell of Bathymophila callomphala
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Clade: Vetigastropoda
Superfamily: Trochoidea
Family: Solariellidae
Genus: Bathymophila
Species:B. callomphala
Binomial name
Bathymophila callomphala
(Schepman, 1908)
Synonyms [1]
  • Solariella (Ethaliopsis) callomphalaSchepman, 1908

Bathymophila callomphala is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Solariellidae. [1] [2]

In biology, a species ( ) is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. 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. Other ways of defining species include their karyotype, DNA sequence, morphology, behaviour or ecological niche. In addition, paleontologists use the concept of the chronospecies since fossil reproduction cannot be examined. While these definitions may seem adequate, when looked at more closely they represent problematic species concepts. For example, the boundaries between closely related species become unclear with hybridisation, in a species complex of hundreds of similar microspecies, and in a ring species. Also, among organisms that reproduce only asexually, the concept of a reproductive species breaks down, and each clone is potentially a microspecies.

Sea snail common name for snails that normally live in saltwater

Sea snail is a common name for snails that normally live in salt water, in other words marine gastropods. The taxonomic class Gastropoda also includes snails that live in other habitats, such as land snails and freshwater snails. Many species of sea snails are edible and exploited as food sources by humans.

Family is one of the eight major hierarcical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy; it is classified between order and genus. A family may be divided into subfamilies, which are intermediate ranks between the ranks of family and genus. The official family names are Latin in origin; however, popular names are often used: for example, walnut trees and hickory trees belong to the family Juglandaceae, but that family is commonly referred to as being the "walnut family".

Contents

Description

(Original description by M. Schepman) The polished, nacreous shell has a depressed-conical, shape. It has a thin, pellucid, white, external layer and often a yellow line below the suture. It contains 4 to 5 whorls. The nucleus is smooth, the subsequent 2 whorls are microscopically spirally striate, crossed by weaker growth-striae. The last 2½ whorls are smooth, with only very faint, traces of growth-striae and spiral striae, but with a row of oval beads, just below the conspicuous suture. The periphery is rounded. The base of the shell is nearly flat, impressed near the centre, which is more or less filled by a thick callus, which is white, with radiating striae on its external margin, granular near the columellar margin, and is ornamented there, with 4 or 5 granules. The base of the shell round the callus, is likewise provided with radiating grooves. The aperture is subtriangularly rounded, very oblique. The outer margin is thin, slightly thickened interiorly. The columellar margin is thickened, its upper end pressed to the body whorl, with a thin layer connecting the margins. The yellow operculum is externally concave.

In anatomy, a suture is a fairly rigid joint between two or more hard elements of an organism, with or without significant overlap of the elements.

Whorl (mollusc)

A whorl is a single, complete 360° revolution or turn in the spiral growth of a mollusc shell. A spiral configuration of the shell is found in of numerous gastropods, but it is also found in shelled cephalopods including Nautilus, Spirula and the large extinct subclass of cephalopods known as the ammonites.

Aperture (mollusc) The main opening of the shell, where the head-foot part of the body of the animal emerges

The aperture is an opening in certain kinds of mollusc shells: it is the main opening of the shell, where the head-foot part of the body of the animal emerges for locomotion, feeding, etc.

The shell varies in altitude, in the presence or absence of the yellow subsutural line and especially in the characters of the umbilicus, which is either closed, or more or less open. This is not dependent on age.

Umbilicus (mollusc)

The umbilicus of a shell is the axially aligned, hollow cone-shaped space within the whorls of a coiled mollusc shell. The term umbilicus is often used in descriptions of gastropod shells, i.e. it is a feature present on the ventral side of many snail shells, including some species of sea snails, land snails, and freshwater snails.

Radula of Bathymophila calliomphala; rhachidian tooth and laterals Bathymophila callomphala 002.jpg
Radula of Bathymophila calliomphala; rhachidian tooth and laterals

The radula is short, with a rather restricted number of uncini, and the shape of the teeth agrees with that of the known species. The rhachidian tooth has a subquadrate body, narrower in front, with concave upper and convex basal margin. Its cusp is large, longer than the base, with about 4 to 6 denticles on each side of the median denticle. The first lateral has a subquadrate body. Its cusp has very small denticles, at its proximal, more conspicuous ones at its distal margin. The second lateral has a similar body, with larger cusp and more numerous denticles at its distal margin. The body of the third lateral is elongate, with a moderate cusp and only a few denticles. The fourth has a very large cusp, with about 10 small denticles and a rhombic body. Moreover, I see a fifth lateral without cusp. Perhaps this tooth exists in many or in all the species, but it is so much covered by the other teeth in their normal position, that it may be easily overlooked. The uncini are not very numerous, and as far as I can see, they have simple cusps. [3]

The radula is an anatomical structure that is used by mollusks for feeding, sometimes compared to a tongue. It is a minutely toothed, chitinous ribbon, which is typically used for scraping or cutting food before the food enters the oesophagus. The radula is unique to the molluscs, and is found in every class of mollusc except the bivalves, who use instead cilia, waving filaments that bring minute organisms to the mouth.

Distribution

This marine species occurs off Indonesia.

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References

  1. 1 2 Bouchet, P. (2012). Bathymophila callomphala (Schepman, 1908). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=547333 on 2012-12-03
  2. Poppe G.T., Tagaro S.P. & Dekker H. (2006) The Seguenziidae, Chilodontidae, Trochidae, Calliostomatidae and Solariellidae of the Philippine Islands. Visaya Supplement 2: 1-228.
  3. Schepman 1908-1913, The Prosobranchia of the Siboga Expedition; Leyden,E. J. Brill,1908-13 (described as Solariella (Ethaliopsis) callomphala)