Biology:Epitonium scalare

Short description: Species of gastropod

Epitonium scalare
A shell of Epitonium scalare
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
(unranked):	clade Caenogastropoda clade Hypsogastropoda informal group Ptenoglossa
Superfamily:	Epitonioidea
Family:	Epitoniidae
Genus:	Epitonium
Species:	E. scalare
Binomial name
Epitonium scalare (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms
Epitonium breve Röding, 1798 Epitonium gradatum Grabau & King, 1929 Epitonium laevis Grabau & King, 1929 Epitonium lineatum Röding, 1798 Epitonium medium Röding, 1798 Epitonium minor Grabau & King, 1929 Epitonium multivariciferum E. A. Smith, 1911 Epitonium principale Röding, 1798 Epitonium pygmaeum Grabau & King, 1929 Epitonium subtile Grabau & King, 1929 Scala pretiosa (Lamarck, 1816) Scala scalaris (Linnaeus, 1758) Scalaria conica Lamarck, 1822 Scalaria pretiosa Lamarck, 1816 Scalaria scalaris (Linnaeus, 1758) Turbo scalaris Linnaeus, 1758

Epitonium scalare, common name the precious wentletrap, is a predatory or ectoparasitic species of marine gastropod with an operculum, in the family Epitoniidae, the wentletraps.

In the 17th and 18th century this was once considered to be a very rare shell and specimens changed hands for large sums of money. Johan de la Faille and Cosimo III de' Medici owned a wentletrap. Its habitat is subtidal in sand.

Distribution

This species is distributed in the Red Sea, in the Indian Ocean along Madagascar and South Africa , in the South West Pacific Ocean and along Fiji Islands and Japan .

Shell description

Adult shells of this species attain a length of between 25 mm to 72 mm.

Many Epitonium species have shells that are very attractive and quite interesting in their structure. However this species is particularly striking, partly because it is very large compared with the great majority of other species within the genus, but also because the whorls themselves do not touch and so the shell is held together only by the well-developed ribs or costae.

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The shell of Epitonium scalare has sculpture consisting of raised ribs that are known as costae. Costae are a very common feature in shells of many Epitonium species.

Further reading

Dance, S. Peter, 1969, Rare Shells, University of California Press.128 p, 24 color plates, ISBN:9780571082179

External links

• "Epitonium (Eburniscala) scalare scalare" (in en). Gastropods.com. http://www.gastropods.com/8/Shell_108.shtml. 

Wikidata ☰ Q2007926 entry