Tegula gallina

Tegula gallina (or commonly, Speckled Tegula) is a North American species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Tegulidae.[1]

Tegula gallina
View of a shell of Tegula gallina
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Clade: Vetigastropoda
Order: Trochida
Superfamily: Trochoidea
Family: Tegulidae
Genus: Tegula
Species:
T. gallina
Binomial name
Tegula gallina
(Forbes, 1850)
Synonyms
  • Chlorostoma gallina (Forbes, 1850)
  • Trochus (Monodonta) gallina Forbes, 1850 (original description)
  • Trochus gallina Fischer
  • Trochus pyriformis Gould, 1853

Description

The shell of T. gallina is typically 3⁄4 to 1 5⁄8 in (1.9 to 4.1 cm) high and wide, though it may be slightly higher than wide.[2]

The imperforate, heavy, solid, thick shell has a conoidal shape and is elevated. Its colors show alternating whitish and purplish-grey or blackish crowded, slanting axial stripes, speckled with whitish. The stripes occupy the interstices between close, narrow superficial folds of the surface, which may be well-marked, or obsolete, continuous or cut into granules by equally close spiral furrows, the latter sometimes predominating.

Its 5 to 6 whorls are convex and rough, and usually indented a short distance below the suture. The spire is conoidal. The apex is usually blunt, eroded and yellow. The body whorl is rounded at the periphery. The convex base often has an eroded area in front of the aperture, above a closed umbilicus, the area around which is usually white. The oblique aperture is nearly round. The outer lip is black-edged, smooth and pearly within. The columella is short, arcuate, and strongly bidentate near the base. The place of the umbilicus is marked by a pit [2]

The above description applies to the typical form. The sculpture of the surface is superficial and very variable, as is the distribution of the color markings, which is dependent upon the sculpture. It is sometimes difficult to separate this from Tegula funebralis.[3]

Distribution

T. gallina lives on intertidal rocks. Its range extends from Santa Barbara County, California to Baja California (Pacific Ocean). Larger specimens of the species live in the southern portion of its range; it is often found alongside the less-common Black Tegula (T. funebralis).[2]

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References
  1. Rosenberg, G. (2012). Tegula gallina (Forbes, 1850). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=534191 on 2012-09-13
  2. Rehder, Harald A (1981). National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Seashells. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 382. ISBN 0-394-51913-2.
  3. Tryon (1889), Manual of Conchology XI, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia
  • Turgeon, D.D., et al. 1998. Common and scientific names of aquatic invertebrates of the United States and Canada. American Fisheries Society Special Publication 26 page(s): 61
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