Dog Whelks, Nassariidae, are burrowing carnivorous Gastropods living
in muddy or sandy sediments, from the intertidal zones to the deeper parts of
the continental shelves (and possibly deeper). They are found across the globe,
but are most abundant in the Indo-Pacific region, with 70 species recorded from
Australia, 69 from Japan, 47 from the island of Ambon in Indonesia, 41 species
from the Philippines and 64 from Vietnam. About 60 species have been described
from Chinese waters, though this is likely to be an underestimate of their true
diversity.
In a paper published in the Raffles Bulletin of Zoology on 22 August
2014, Junlong Zhang and Suping Zhang of the Institute of Oceanology of the
Chinese Academy of Sciences describe a new species of Dog Whelk from the South
and East China Seas.
The new species is placed in the genus Nassarius and given the specific name glabrus, meaning smooth, in reference to the surface of the shell. Nassarius glabrus has an elongated ovular
shell reaching up to 18.7 mm in length with 7-8 whorls. Its shell is light
brown in colour, with yellowish-brown flame-like patterns.
Nassarius glabrusin (A)apertural view; (B) lateral view; (C) dorsal view .Zhang &
Zhang (2014).
See also…
Omalogyrid Snails are among the smallest known Gastropods, with
adult body sizes often comparable with larger Protozoans (single-celled
‘animals’). As such they tend only to be collected in surveys which directly
target them, rather than general surveys of Mollusc faunas, and are often
undocumented even in areas where other Molluscs have been studied extensively.
Omalogyrid Snails are not well...
Jamaica is considered to be a biodiversity hotspot for Land Snails,
with over 505 species considered to be endemic to the island (i.e. coming from
the island and not found anywhere else) and 562 species found on the island in
total. This is despite the island having a...
Two new species of Cyclophoroid Land Snails from Thailand and Peninsula Malaysia.
The Cyclophoroidea are a large and diverse group of terrestrial
Gastropods, occupying a range of ecological niches from species that
live entirely below the soil surface to species that spend their entire
life cycles...
Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.
