Coelotrochus oppressus

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Coelotrochus oppressus
Coelotrochus oppressus 001.jpg
Drawing of a shell of Coelotrochus oppressus
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Clade: Vetigastropoda
Order: Trochida
Superfamily: Trochoidea
Family: Trochidae
Genus: Coelotrochus
Species:
C. oppressus
Binomial name
Coelotrochus oppressus
(Hutton, 1878) [1]
Synonyms [2]
  • Gibbula oppressaHutton, 1878 (original description)
  • Thoristella oppressa(Hutton,1878)
  • Trochus oppressusHutton, 1878

Coelotrochus oppressus, common name the shouldered top shell, is a species of very small sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Trochidae, the top snails or top shells. [2]

In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; this kind of name is often contrasted with the scientific name for the same organism, which is Latinized. A common name is sometimes frequently used, but that is by no means always the case.

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.

Contents

Description

The length of the shell attains 5.5 mm, its diameter 6 mm. The small, somewhat solid shell has a conical shape. It is lustreless, with a false umbilicus. The sculpture of the entire surface is closely finely spirally striate. The striae of the base become coarser toward the axis. The colour of the shell is dark olive-brown or greenish, minutely tessellated all over with a slightly darker shade of the same hue. The small protoconch is conical with two slightly spirally striated whorls. The teleoconch consists of five whorls, those of the spire keeled above the middle. The body whorl is biangular. The base of the shell is rather flattened. The suture is slightly impressed. The oblique aperture is subquadrangular, iridescent and slightly lirate within. The peristome is sharp and discontinuous. The outer and basal lip are convex, with a narrow opaque margin within, which is smooth. The oblique columella is straight, in adult specimens with a few inconspicuous plications above. The umbilicus is filled with callus, leaving only a slight pit. [3]

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.

Sculpture (mollusc)

Sculpture is a feature of many of the shells of mollusks. It is three-dimensional ornamentation on the outer surface of the shell, as distinct from either the basic shape of the shell itself or the pattern of colouration, if any. Sculpture is a feature found in the shells of gastropods, bivalves, and scaphopods. The word "sculpture" is also applied to surface features of the aptychus of ammonites, and to the outer surface of some calcareous opercula of marine gastropods such as some species in the family Trochidae.

Protoconch

A protoconch is an embryonic or larval shell which occurs in some classes of molluscs, e.g., the initial chamber of an ammonite or the larval shell of a gastropod. In older texts it is also called "nucleus". The protoconch may sometimes consist of several whorls, but when this is the case, the whorls show no growth lines.

Distribution

This marine species is endemic to New Zealand and occurs off North Island

New Zealand Constitutional monarchy in Oceania

New Zealand is a sovereign island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses—the North Island, and the South Island —and around 600 smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres (600 mi) south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. Because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, and plant life. The country's varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland.

North Island The northern of the two main islands of New Zealand

The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island's area is 113,729 square kilometres (43,911 sq mi), making it the world's 14th-largest island. It has a population of 3,749,200.

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References

  1. ↑ Hutton., J. de Conch., xxvi, 1878, 34
  2. 1 2 Rosenberg, G. (2012). Coelotrochus oppressus. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=598201 on 2012-06-21
  3. ↑ Suter H. (1913-1915), Manual of New Zealand Mollusca; Wellington, N. Z. :J. Mackay, govt. printer,1913-1915 (described as Trochus oppressus)

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