Pollia undosa

Pollia undosa
Live specimen of Pollia undosa, in Bunaken, Sulawesi
Shell of Pollia undosa from New Zealand at the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Caenogastropoda
clade Hypsogastropoda
clade Neogastropoda
Superfamily: Buccinoidea
Family: Buccinidae
Subfamily: Pisaniinae
Genus: Pollia
Species: P. undosa
Binomial name
Pollia undosa
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms[1]
  • Buccinum undosum Linnaeus, 1758
  • Cantharus undosus (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • Tritonidea undosa (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • Buccinum affine Gmelin, J.F., 1791

Pollia undosa, common name : the waved goblet, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Buccinidae, the true whelks.[1]

Description

The shell size varies between 20 mm and 45 mm, with the average size ranging from 35 mm to 40 mm. Usually the shell has dark brown ribs and orange background, but there are several different variations of color. It is an active hunter of other molluscs, feeding on snails, slugs, mussels and clams.

The ovate, bi-conic shell is quite thick and solid. It is of a reddish white, and covered with a brown, velvety epidermis. The six whorls are moderate, pretty distinct, and provided with decurrent, subnodulous striae, of a brownish or blackish red. The intervals are white, and furnished with very fine striae scarcely apparent. The body whorl is much larger than all the others together, and has five or six thick, obtuse longitudinal folds of ribs, which are rarely continued as far as the base of the shell, and oftentimes form only tubercles, particularly in old shells. The aperture is ovate, elongated, whitish, and bordered with yellow. The siphonal canal is slightly prolonged, emargination slight and oblique. The outer lip, which is thickened by age, is denticulated throughout its whole length, and furrowed internally. The columella is wrinkle and covered at its base with a thin, raised callosity. [2]

Distribution

This species is distributed in the Red Sea, in the Indian Ocean along Aldabra, Chagos and Tanzania and in the Western Pacific Ocean. This species mainly inhabits reef and lagoons but it is widespread in a variety of different habitats.

References

External links

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