EPITONIIDAE
wentletraps

  Cycloscala hyalina
(Sowerby, 1844)

Relevant Synonyms
Cycloscala latedisjuncta (de Boury, 1911)

Misidentification
-

 photo reproduced from Giannuzzi-Savelli et al.    

SHORT DESCRIPTION
Shell small, with conical protoconch of 3-4 flat whorls with very fine axial striae, oblique to the axis, and 4-4.5 rounded teleoconch whorls which form a loose, disjunct spire. Sculpture of widely spaced, ragged axial lamellae. Aperture rounded, bordered by the last formed lamella.

color : white, except protoconch which is reddish brown.

common size : Mediterranean specimens up to 8 mm.

DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS
The uncoiled spire is unique among European shallow water epitoniids.

BIOLOGY / ECOLOGY
All Epitoniids are obligate associates to Anthozoans, but the particular host of this species is not known. The larvae are planktotrophic.

habitat : unknown.


1st Mediterranean record
Kyrenia, Cyprus, 1994 [1992].


DISTRIBUTION
Worldwide: Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and throughout the Tropical Western Pacific (Kilburn, 1985). Mediterranean: known from the first record in 1992 in Cyprus (Cecalupo and Quadri, 1994) and from Adana and Yumurtalik, southern Turkey (Engl and Çeviker, 1999).

ESTABLISHMENT SUCCESS
Very rare, but documented by reliable records.

speculated reasons for success :
-


MODE OF INTRODUCTION
Unknown.


IMPORTANCE TO HUMANS
None.


KEY REFERENCES

  • Cecalupo A. and Quadri P., 1994. Contributo alla conoscenza malacologica per il nord dell' isola di Cipro. Bollettino Malacologico, 30(1-4): 5-16.
  • Engl W. and Çeviker D., 1999. New migrant species from southeast Turkey Psammotreta praerupta (Salisbury, 1934) and Antigona lamellaris Schumacher, 1817. La Conchiglia, 31(290): 17-20.
  • Giannuzzi-Savelli R., Pusateri F., Palmeri A. and Ebreo C., 1999. Atlante delle conchiglie marine del mediterraneo. Vol. 3: Caenogastropoda. parte 2. Evolver, Roma, 127 p. [Cycloscala hyalina, p. 74-75, Fig. 191].

 

  • Kilburn R.N., 1985. The family Epitoniidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) in southern Africa and Mozambique. Annals of the Natal Museum, 27(1): 239-337. [Cycloscala, pp. 255-259].

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Last update : January 2005

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