Fly-drop screw worm
| Fly-drop screw worm | ||||||||||||
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Housing of Oxymeris areolata |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Oxymeris areolata | ||||||||||||
| ( Link , 1807) |
The fly- drop screw snail ( Oxymeris areolata , common synonyms : Subula areolata , Terebra areolata , Terebra muscaria , Acus areolatus ) is a snail belonging to the family of screw snails (genus Oxymeris ), which is widespread in the western Pacific Ocean . It eats acorn worms , which - unlike most Conoidea - it overwhelms without poison.
features
Oxymeris areolata has a large, tapering snail shell with about 20 to 21 rounded whorls and an oval, up to 11 mm long housing mouth, which in adult snails reaches about 7 to 12 cm in length and 10 to 11 mm in width, but occasionally up to 18 cm long. The early whorls have vertical ribs that become obsolete in the later whorls. The spindle is straight with a strong fasciole and rib. The top half of the outer lip of the case mouth is angled. Apart from the growth stripes, the surface of the case is smooth. A spiral groove divides the whorls into a smaller upper third and lower two thirds. The shell is glossy cream-colored or pale yellowish-brown in color with three rows of blackish-brown square spots running in a spiral on the circumferences of the thread and four rows of blackish-brown square spots on the circumference of the body, the spots directly above the seam being larger than the other spots.
distribution and habitat
Oxymeris areolata is distributed in the Indo-Pacific from the Red Sea and the coast of East Africa and South Africa near Durban via Madagascar , the Andamans , Lakshadweep to Japan , Hawaii , eastern Polynesia and Australia ( Queensland ). It lives from the deeper areas of the intertidal zone down to a depth of around 20 m on sandy surfaces.
Development cycle
Like all worms, Oxymeris areolata is sexually separate and the male mates with the female with his penis . The Veliger larvae swim free before they sink and metamorphose into crawling snails .
nutrition
Oxymeris areolata has no poisonous apparatus and therefore swallows live prey, which it sucks in with its pseudoproboscis. It is a specialized predator and eats acorn worms that live in the sand .
Importance to humans
Oxymeris areolata is especially collected for its shell.
literature
- R. Venkitesan, AK Mukherjee (2012): Contribution to the knowledge on Indian marine molluscs: Family Terebridae. Records of the Zoological Survey of India 111 (3), pp. 49-77.
- Jerry G. Walls: Cone Shells: A Synopsis of the Living Terebridae TFH Publications, Neptune (New Jersey) 1979. pp. 86-88.
Web links
- Underwater Kwajalein: Oxymeris areolata (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Fischhaus Zepkow: Family Terebridae - screw snails
- Terebridae. From: JM Poutiers: Gastropods . In: Kent E. Carpenter, Volker H. Niem (Eds.): FAO Species identification guide for fishery purposes. The living marine resources of the Western Central Pacific. Volume 1: Seaweeds, corals, bivalves and gastropods. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, 1998. pp. 629-636.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mande Holford, Nicolas Puillandre, Yves Terryn, Corinne Cruaud, Baldomero Olivera, Philippe Bouchet (2009): Evolution of the Toxoglossa Venom Apparatus as Inferred by Molecular Phylogeny of the Terebridae. Molecular Biology and Evolution 26 (1), pp. 15-25, here 22.
- ↑ John D. Taylor (1986): Diets of sand-living predatory gastropods at Piti Bay, Guam. Asian Marine Biology 3, pp. 47-58.