Olivella nana

Olivella nana, common name the sparkling dwarf olive, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Olivellidae.[2]

Sparkling dwarf olive
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Gastropoda
(unranked):
clade Caenogastropoda
clade Hypsogastropoda
clade Neogastropoda
Superfamily:
Olivoidea
Family:
Olivellidae
Genus:
Olivella
Species:
O. nana
Binomial name
Olivella nana
(Lamarck, 1811) [1]
Synonyms[2]
  • Oliva nana Lamarck, 1811 (basionym)
  • Oliva zenopira Duclos, 1835
  • Olivancillaria nana (Lamarck, 1811)
  • Olivancillaria zenopira (Duclos, 1835) (Duclos, 1835)[3]

The shells of Olivella nana, harvested on Luanda Island, were used as currency called nzimbu in the Kingdom of Kongo, and were even traded north as far as the Kingdom of Benin.[4]

Taxonomy

Oliva nana Lamarck, 1811, described from the coast of Angola, was included in the genus Olivancillaria by Fischer (1887) and later cited by many authors in the same genus (e.g. Dautzenberg 1912, Odhner 1923, Nickles 1950, Klappenbach 1965, Burnay & Conceição 1983, etc.). However, the presence of an operculum excludes it from Olivancillaria. Abbott & Dance (1986) included it in Olivella, which appears to be a more accurate assignation.[2]

Description

The length of the shell varies between 10 mm and 20 mm. The color of the shell is dark, shining horn. There is some variation in the coloration in this species which changes from horn to white in some specimens at the point where the whorls of the protoconch and the teleoconch join. In some other specimens the change is continued on the first or second whorl of the teleoconch.

The apex is small, flattened, smooth and shining. This is the flattest apex in this genus. The apex consists of 11/2 carinated whorls that are rapidly enlarging. The carina appears on the first half of the first whorl and is very strong. The sutures of both the protoconch and the teleoconch are deeply channeled.[5]

Distribution

This species occurs in the Atlantic Ocean from Cape Verdes to West Africa and Angola; in the Indian Ocean off Madagascar.

References
  1. Lamarck J.-B. (1811). Détermination des espéces de Mollusques testacés. Ann. Mus. Nat. Paris, vol. 16 page(s): 326, species 57.
  2. Olivella nana (Lamarck, 1811). Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 13 April 2012.
  3. Duclos, P.L. (1840) Histoire Naturelle Génerale et Particuliere de Tous les Genres de Coquilles Univalves Marines a l’état Vivant et Fossile, Publiée par Monographies, Genre Columbella. Didot, Paris, 1 p., 13 pls.. World Register of Marine Species, Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  4. Jan Hogendorn and Marion Johnson, The Shell Money of the Slave Trade (Cambridge University Press, 1986), p. 19.
  5. Modification of the apex in gastropod mollusks, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. v9., 1877; p. 689
  • Teso V. & Pastorino G. (2011) A revision of the genus Olivancillaria (Mollusca: Olividae) from the southwestern Atlantic. Zootaxa 2889: 1–34.
  • "Olivancillaria (Micana) nana". Gastropods.com. Retrieved 16 January 2019.


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