Astraea heliotropium

Astraea heliotropium, common name the sunburst star turban or the circular saw shell, is a large sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc of the family Turbinidae, the turbans and star snails.[2]

Astraea heliotropium
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Vetigastropoda
Order: Trochida
Superfamily: Trochoidea
Family: Turbinidae
Genus: Astraea
Species:
A. heliotropium
Binomial name
Astraea heliotropium
(Martyn, 1784)
Synonyms[2]
  • Astralium heliotropium (Martyn T., 1784)
  • Guildfordia heliophorus Gray
  • Imperator aureolatus Montfort, 1810
  • Lithopoma heliotropium (Martyn, T., 1784)
  • Solarium radiatum Fischer von Waldheim, G., 1807
  • Trochus heliotropium Martyn, 1784 (basionym)
  • Trochus imperialis Gmelin, 1791

This large species was brought to Europe for the first time by the famous Captain Cook.[3]

Shell description

The height of the shell is up to 60 mm, and the width is up to 120 mm. The large shell has a depressed-conic shape. Below widely it is umbilicate and concave. The spire is dome-shaped, and consists of 5 convex whorls. The suture is rendered zigzag by the prominent compressed triangular recurved vaulted spines which arm the acutely carinated periphery. The whorls above and below contain numerous spiral series of granules. The wide umbilicus is deep, and coarsely obliquely striate within. The aperture is transversely oval, oblique, pearly within. The peristome is continuous. The columella is slightly dilated, impinging upon the umbilicus. The color pattern is brownish or purplish above, light below.[3]

Distribution

This marine species is endemic to New Zealand[1]

References
  1. Mollusc Specialist Group (2000). Astraea heliotropium. In: IUCN 2010. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2010.4. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 08 March 2011.
  2. WoRMS (2010). Astraea heliotropium (Martyn, 1784). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=404992 on 2011-03-08
  3. G.W. Tryon (1888), Manual of Conchology X; Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia
  • Williams, S.T. (2007). Origins and diversification of Indo-West Pacific marine fauna: evolutionary history and biogeography of turban shells (Gastropoda, Turbinidae). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 92, 573–592.
  • Spencer, H.; Marshall. B. (2009). All Mollusca except Opisthobranchia. In: Gordon, D. (Ed.) (2009). New Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity. Volume One: Kingdom Animalia. 584 pp

Further reading
  • Powell A W B, New Zealand Mollusca, William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 ISBN 0-00-216906-1
  • Glen Pownall, New Zealand Shells and Shellfish, Seven Seas Publishing Pty Ltd, Wellington, New Zealand 1979 ISBN 0-85467-054-8
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