Megastraea turbanica

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Megastraea turbanica
Megastraea turbanica 01.JPG
Shell of Megastraea turbanica (Dall, 1910)
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Clade: Vetigastropoda
Order: Trochida
Superfamily: Trochoidea
Family: Turbinidae
Genus: Megastraea
Species:
M. turbanica
Binomial name
Megastraea turbanica
(Dall, 1910)
Synonyms [1]
  • Astraea petrothaumaBerry, 1940
  • Astraea (Uvanilla) rupicollinaStohler, 1959
  • Pomaulax turbanicusDall, 1910 (basionym)

Megastraea turbanica, common name the turban star shell, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Turbinidae, the turban snails. [1]

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 hierarchical 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

The size of the shell attains 150 mm. The shell is moderately large and rather thin. It is brilliantly pearly inside. It is covered with a reddish-brown periostracum which becomes olivaceous on the base. The form is rather depressed with turgid whorls, about six in all. The nucleus is white, blunt, imperfect. The base of the shell is flattened, bordered by a sparsely nodulous carina. The sculpture on the spire is slightly protractive, rounded, and short. It contains rather elevated riblets reaching about half way forward on the whorl from the suture (17 on the last whorl). These end in or are barely separated from the same number of stout nodules at the periphery, with a marked sulcus separating them from a similar row of nodules on the margin of the base. The base contains four somewhat undulated spiral ridges separated by subequal interspaces, except the inner pair which are smaller and closer to each other. The base is imperforate and is swollen at the base of the columella. The aperture is ample. The surface of the bodyis erased, leaving visible a pearly and white substance. The pearly columella is arcuate with no anterior prominence or tooth. The outer lip and the base is simple and sharp. The white operculum is rounded, shelly, with three partly gyrate, very prominent, granose, narrow ribs. The spaces between them are excavated and smooth. [2]

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.

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.

Spire (mollusc)

A spire is a part of the coiled shell of molluscs. The spire consists of all of the whorls except for the body whorl. Each spire whorl represents a rotation of 360°. A spire is part of the shell of a snail, a gastropod mollusc, a gastropod shell, and also the whorls of the shell in ammonites, which are fossil shelled cephalopods.

Distribution

This species occurs in the Pacific Ocean off California, USA.

California State of the United States of America

California is a state in the Pacific Region of the United States. With 39.6 million residents, California is the most populous U.S. state and the third-largest by area. The state capital is Sacramento. The Greater Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second and fifth most populous urban regions, with 18.7 million and 9.7 million residents respectively. Los Angeles is California's most populous city, and the country's second most populous, after New York City. California also has the nation's most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The City and County of San Francisco is both the country's second-most densely populated major city after New York City and the fifth-most densely populated county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs.

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References

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