Tectus maximus

Tectus maximus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Clade: Vetigastropoda
Superfamily: Trochoidea (superfamily)
Family: Tegulidae
Genus: Tectus
Species: T. maximus
Binomial name
Tectus maximus
(Koch in Philippi, 1844) [1]
Synonyms
  • Tectus (Tectus) niloticus maximus (Koch, F.C.L. in Philippi, R.A., 1844)
  • Trochus marmoratus Kiener
  • Trochus maximus Koch in Philippi, 1844

Tectus maximus is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Tegulidae.[2][3]

Description

The height of the shell attains 95 mm, its diameter also 95 mm. The shell is less ponderous than Tectus niloticus. Its form is strictly conical. The whorls of the spire are decidedly plicate or tuberculate, planulate. The body whorl is not dilated at the periphery. The flat base is concentrically grooved. The columella is less oblique than in the type.[4]

This species was first considered an arrested or primitive form of Tectus niloticus, as in the conic form, flat, lirate base, and sculptured spire, it exactly resembles an immature specimen of the latter species. But in 1869 Dr. von Martens considered them different species.[5]

Distribution

This marine species occurs off the Fiji Islands and Indo-Malaysia.

References

  1. Koch, in Philippi; Abbild. u. Beschreib., Trochus, t. iv, f. 3. 1844.
  2. Bouchet, P. (2012). Tectus maximus (Koch in Philippi, 1844). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=580118 on 2012-09-01
  3. Williams S.T., Karube S. & Ozawa T. (2008) Molecular systematics of Vetigastropoda: Trochidae, Turbinidae and Trochoidea redefined. Zoologica Scripta 37: 483–506.
  4. Tryon (1889), Manual of Conchology XI, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia
  5. Dr. von Martens, Ann. and Mag. N. H., 1869, p. 97

External links

External identifiers for Tectus maximus
NCBI 530544
WoRMS 580118
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