Alcithoe arabica

Alcithoe arabica, common name Arabic volute, is a species of very large sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Volutidae, the volutes.[1][2]

Alcithoe arabica
A shell of the shouldered form of Alcithoe arabica
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Order: Neogastropoda
Family: Volutidae
Genus: Alcithoe
Species:
A. arabica
Binomial name
Alcithoe arabica
(Gmelin, 1791)
Synonyms

Alcithoe swainsoni Marwick, 1926
Alcithoe motutaraensis Powell A. W. B., 1928
Fulgoraraia (Alcithoe) depressa Suter, 1908
Notovoluta rossiteri Brazier, 1898
Notovoluta rossiteri Swainson, 1821
Notovoluta rossiteri Perry, 1810

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand.[1][3][4]

Description
A shell of Alcithoe arabica

Shells of Alcithoe arabica can reach a height of 75–225 millimetres (3.0–8.9 in) and a width of 88 mm.[1] These shells are usually large, solid, fusiform, with relatively weak tubercles on the shoulder of the body whorl.[1] The shell aperture is high with a thickened, rounded outer lip.[1] The external surface is yellowish-white with chestnut zig-zac markings, forming five bands on the body whorl. These zig-zag markings were thought to resemble Arabic writing, giving rise to the name of the species.

There is no operculum in A. arabica. Individuals have a large grey to brown foot, flecked with purple and orange markings.[5]

Ecology

These sea snails live in subtidal waters on soft sediments.[5] Alcithoe arabica are able to move quite quickly on the soft substrate. They feed on bivalves that they smother using their large foot. The rounded, thin shelled eggs of this species are laid on stones or other shells.[5]

Subspecies
  • Alcithoe arabica motutaraensis Powell, 1928[2]
  • Alcithoe arabica swainsoni Marwick, 1926[2]
  • A shell of Alcithoe arabica (smooth form)
  • Apertural view

References
  1. Powell A. W. B., New Zealand Mollusca, William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 ISBN 0-00-216906-1
  2. WoRMS World Register of Marine Species: Alcithoe arabica (Gmelin, 1791)
  3. Hills, Simon F.K.; Trewick, Steven A.; Morgan-Richards, Mary (2011). "Phylogenetic information of genes, illustrated with mitochondrial data from a genus of gastropod molluscs". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 104: 770–785. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.2011.01756.x.
  4. Hills, Simon F.K.; Crampton, James S.; Trewick, Steven A.; Morgan-Richards, Mary (2012). "DNA and Morphology Unite Two Species and 10 Million Year Old Fossils". PLOS One. 7 (12): e52083. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0052083. PMC 3527379. PMID 23284880.
  5. Marine Life - Snail, Arabic Volute

Further reading
  • Powell A W B, New Zealand Mollusca, William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 ISBN 0-00-216906-1
  • Bail, P., Limpus, A. 2005: A Conchological Iconography 11, The Recent Volutes of New Zealand, with a revision of the genus Alcithoe H. & A. Adams, 1853, ConchBooks, Hackenheim, Germany.
  • Gordon, D. NZIB: New Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity.
  • Grant-Mackie, J.A. Dec/2011: A Fossil Egg Case of Alcithoe arabica from the Whanganui Pleistocene, Poirieria, 36.
  • Horne, C. Jul/2005: Observations on Alcithoe arabica at Bucklands Beach, Poirieria.
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