Prothalotia pulcherrima

Prothalotia pulcherrima, common name the beautiful jewel top shell, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Trochidae, the top snails.[2][3]

Prothalotia pulcherrima
Drawing with two views of a shell of Prothalotia pulcherrima
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Vetigastropoda
Order: Trochida
Superfamily: Trochoidea
Family: Trochidae
Genus: Prothalotia
Species:
P. pulcherrima
Binomial name
Prothalotia pulcherrima
(W. Wood, 1828) [1]
Synonyms
  • Cantharidus pulcherrimus (Wood, 1828)
  • Thalotia mariae Tenison-Woods, 1877
  • Trochus preissii Menke, 1843
  • Trochus pulcherrimus Wood, 1828 (original combination)

Description

The length of the shell varies between 12 mm and 20 mm. The elongated, thick and solid shell is imperforate and has an acutely conical shape. The spire is straightly conical. The apex is subacute. The sutures are linear. The about 6 whorls are nearly flat. The penultimate has four or five broad flat spiral ribs, often unequal in width, separated by narrow impressed grooves. The subangular body whorl has four or five broad fiat low ribs above the periphery and more numerous narrower ones on the base. The ribs are usually purplish-crimson articulated with narrow white marks. The small aperture is less than one-half the length of shell. It is oblique, oval, brilliantly iridescent and somewhat sulcated inside. The peristome is edged with a line of intense crimson, bordered with greenish inside. The vertical columella is slightly arcuate but straight in the middle. The parietal wall is covered by a light callus.[4]

Distribution

This marine species is endemic to Australia and occurs off Victoria to Western Australia and off Northern Tasmania.

References
  1. Wood, Ind. Test, suppl., t. 6, f. 45.
  2. MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Prothalotia pulcherrima (W. Wood, 1828). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=876701 on 2020-07-26
  3. Hickman C.S. (2005) Seagrass fauna of the temperate southern coast of Australia I: The cantharidine trochid gastropods. In: F.E. Wells, D.I. Walker & G.A. Kendrick (eds), The marine flora and fauna of Esperance, Western Australia: 199-220. Western Australian Museum, Perth.
  4. Tryon (1889), Manual of Conchology XI, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia
  • To World Register of Marine Species
  • "Cantharidus pulcherrimus". Gastropods.com. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  • Tenison Woods, J. E. (1878). On some new marine Mollusca. Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 14: 55-65
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