Cantharidus purpureus

Cantharidus purpureus
Apertural view of a shell of Cantharidus purpureus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Vetigastropoda
Superfamily: Trochoidea
Family: Trochidae
Subfamily: Monodontinae
Genus: Cantharidus
Species: C. purpureus
Binomial name
Cantharidus purpureus

Cantharidus purpureus, common name the red opal top shell, is a species of medium-sized sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Trochidae.[1]

Description

The length of the shell varies between 16 mm and 32 mm. It grazes on seaweed.

Distribution

This marine species occurs off North Island and South Island, New Zealand.

References

  1. Rosenberg, G. (2012). Cantharidus purpureus (Gmelin, 1791). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=598222 on 2012-11-27

Further reading

  • Powell A. W. B., New Zealand Mollusca, p. 55; William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 ISBN 0-00-216906-1
  • Marshall, B.A. 1998: The New Zealand Recent species of Cantharidus Montfort, 1810 and Micrelenchus Finlay, 1926 (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Trochidae). Molluscan Research 19: 107-156 (p. 114)
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