Scutellastra optima

Scutellastra optima
Shell of Scutellastra optima (specimen at Natural History Museum Rotterdam)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Patellogastropoda
Family:	Patellidae
Genus:	Scutellastra
Species:	S. optima
Binomial name
Scutellastra optima (Pilsbry, 1927)
Synonyms [1]
Patella stellaeformis optimaPilsbry, 1927 [2] (basionym)

Scutellastra optima is a species of true limpet, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Patellidae. ^{[1] [3]}

Description

The shell of the holotype measures 64 mm × 80 mm (2.5 in × 3.1 in). ^[2]

(Original description) The shell is large, solid, and ovate in shape, with a distinctly depressed profile. Its sculpture consists of numerous low radial riblets, which are approximately equal in width to the intervals between them. These riblets are layered over a coarser underlying structure of about a dozen low, broad radial elevations.

The color is striking: the depressed spaces between the primary elevations are a dull, deep maroon, while the smaller intervals between the riblets on the raised portions exhibit a diluted shade of the same hue. The interior is white, featuring a central field clouded with cinnamon tones. ^[2]

Distribution

Scutellastra optima occurs in the northwestern Pacific. ^[3] The holotype was obtained from Yakushima (Japan). ^[2]

References

1. Bieler R, Bouchet P, Gofas S, Marshall B, Rosenberg G, La Perna R, Neubauer TA, Sartori AF, Schneider S, Vos C, ter Poorten JJ, Taylor J, Dijkstra H, Finn J, Bank R, Neubert E, Moretzsohn F, Faber M, Houart R, Picton B, Garcia-Alvarez O, eds. (2023). "Scutellastra optima (Pilsbry, 1927)". MolluscaBase. World Register of Marine Species . Retrieved 4 July 2023.
2. Pilsbry, H. A. (1927). "Patella stellaeformis optima n. subsp". The Nautilus. 40 (4): 138–139. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
3. "Scutellastra optima (Pilsbry, 1927)". Global Biodiversity Information Facility . Retrieved 4 July 2023.

Nakano T. & Ozawa T. (2007). Worldwide phylogeography of limpets of the order Patellogastropoda: molecular, morphological and paleontological evidence. Journal of Molluscan Studies 73(1): 79–99.