Margarites bairdii

Baird's margarite
Original drawing with two views of a shell of Margarites bairdii
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Vetigastropoda
Order:	Trochida
Superfamily:	Trochoidea
Family:	Margaritidae
Genus:	Margarites
Species:	M. bairdii
Binomial name
Margarites bairdii (Dall, 1889)
Synonyms
Margarites (Bathymophila) bairdi(Dall, 1889) Umbonium bairdiiDall, 1889

Margarites bairdii, common name Baird's margarite, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Margaritidae. ^[1]

Description

(Original description by W.H. Dall) The height of the shell attains 4 mm, its diameter 5 mm. The small, white shell has a depressed conic shape. it is polished, externally porcellanous, internally slightly nacreous. The globular nucleus is dextral. The spire contains 5 or more whorls. The radiating sculpture consists of occasional faint impressed incremental lines. The spiral sculpture consists of occasional microscopic striae, and a single strap-like band appressed to the suture. It bears numerous flattish squarish nodules or elevations, which coronate the whorls. The periphery is rounded. The base of the shell is rounded, depressed in the center, which is nearly filled with a mass of white callus having a very finely granular surface. The granular surface of the callus is common to the young of other species, and is lost in the adult. The ovate aperture has a simple, thin, oblique margin. ^[2]

Distribution

This species occurs in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Caribbean Sea.

References

1. Margarites bairdii (Dall, 1889) . Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species  on 20 April 2010.
2. Dall W. H. 1889. Reports on the results of dredging, under the supervision of Alexander Agassiz, in the Gulf of Mexico (1877–78) and in the Caribbean Sea (1879–80), by the U.S. Coast Survey Steamer "Blake", Lieut.-Commander C.D. Sigsbee, U.S.N., and Commander J.R. Bartlett, U.S.N., commanding. XXIX. Report on the Mollusca. Part 2, Gastropoda and Scaphopoda. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy at Harvard College 18: 1–492, pls. 10–40 (described as Umbonium bairdii)

• Rosenberg, G., F. Moretzsohn, and E. F. García. 2009. Gastropoda (Mollusca) of the Gulf of Mexico, Pp. 579–699 in Felder, D.L. and D.K. Camp (eds.), Gulf of Mexico–Origins, Waters, and Biota. Biodiversity. Texas A&M Press, College Station, Texas.