Globiscala bullata
(G. B. Sowerby II, 1844)
Description:
Dimensions range from 8 mm - 55 mm high and 6 mm - 29 mm wide.
Width to height ratio: 0.75:1 ~ 0.53:1
Shell: stout, bulliform, broad, very ventricose; light, thin, fragile; small to medium. Exterior colour white to yellowish white, smooth. About 10.5 whorls, rounded, connected; protoconch conical with 3-3.5 whorls convex, glossy; teleoconch with 4-7 whorls convex and inflated. Suture impressed, deep. Umbilicate: open, narrow but deep. Approximately 19 - 70 costae on the body whorl. Costae are early whorls with fine axial threads, becoming more widely spaced, weaker and irregular on later whorls. Costae not alinged; elevated near the suture; not continuous across the suture. Intercostal spaces with fine spiral threads, irregularly spaced. Columella almost straight, slightly reflexed. Aperture large, ovate or somewhat ovate-quadrate, lip not thickened externally, slightly sinuous in side view; peristome thin, simple. Operculum thin, yellow, paucispiral.
Distribution:
Indo-west Pacific; Japan, Philippines [Nakayama, 2003:76]; Yemen [Abubakr, 2004:69], Red Sea to Natal, South Africa [Kilburn, 1985:330]; Australia, known from Queensland and NSW, as far south as Sydney [Beechey, 2008]
Habitat:
intertidal to 37 m. under rocks in tide pools, associated with the red sea anemone Pseudactinia flagellifera (Hertwig, 1882) occasionally it may be partly covered by the basal disk of the anemone [Dushane, 1988]
Etymology:
[latin] from bullatus = bubbled, possibly in reference to the inflated shape of the shell
Type Material:
Holotype: NHMUK 1981036 for Globiscala bullata (G. B. Sowerby II, 1844) - Type Locality: Capul Island, Philippines, on coral reefs.. [Brown, L. & Neville, B.D., 2015]
Holotype: Azuma coll. [as Globiscala kashiwajimensis Azuma, 1962:] - Type Locality: off Kashiwajima, Tosa Province, Japan, 20 fms [= 37 m].. [Brown, L. & Neville, B.D., 2015]
Holotype: Dautzenberg coll. 447 [as Scala papyracea de Boury, 1912:] - Type Locality: Natal, South Africa.. [Brown, L. & Neville, B.D., 2015]
Syntype: MNHN 4356 [as Papyriscala vallata Jousseaume, 1912:] - Type Locality: Périm, Djibouti.. [Brown, L. & Neville, B.D., 2015]
Holotype: AMS C62272 [as Epitonium woolacottae Kerslake, 1958:] - Type Locality: Caloundra, South Queensland, Australia.. [Brown, L. & Neville, B.D., 2015]
Type: Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle MNHN-IM-2000-4356 [as Papyriscala vallata Jousseaume, 1912] - Type Locality: Djibouti, Périm. [MNHN, 2025d]
Holotype: Private collection of Mr. Masao Azuma, Takarazuka, Hygo prefecture, Japan [as Globiscala kashiwajimensis M. Azuma, 1962] - Type Locality: 'island of Capul, Philippines, taken on the coral reefs'.. [Higo, S., Callomon, P. & Goto, Y., 1999]
Beechey, D. (2008). pp: Globiscala bullata. Fig. 1.
Bustard Head, Queensland (C.334105)
Distribution
as listed in source literature
Sowerby, G. B. II. (1844).
pp: 94-95.
The shell is ventricose, pyramidal, smooth, almost imperforate; with few, rapidly growing whorls; varices somewhat numerous, irregular, unequal, prominent; aperture large, inner lip somewhat expanded, anteriorly nearly square; color very pale red
Plate xxxiv. Fig. 85.
Sowerby, G. B. II. (1844).
pp: 94.
45. Sc. BULLATA. (pi. xxxiv. f. 87.) Soiv. Jwi. Zool. Proc. 1844.
original description
Sowerby, G. B. II. (1873).
Plate ii. Fig. 8.
Tryon, G.W. (1887).
Shown in text as Scalaria bullata G. B. Sowerby II, 1844
Plate 11. Fig. 37.
pp: 55.
Clessin, S. (1897).
Plate 5. Fig. 4.
pp: 19-20.
Shell short, broad, very swollen, white in color; whorls few, rounded, separated by fairly deep sutures; longitudinal folds thin, unequal, slanted and drawn into fine points at the suture; aperture large; umbilicus small.
Jousseaume, F. (1912).
Shown in text as Papyriscala vallata Jousseaume, 1912
Plate VI. Fig. 37-39.
Papyriscala vallata sp. n.
PI. VI, fig: 37-39.
Boury, E. de. (1912b).
Shown in text as Scala (Globiscala) papyracea de Boury, 1912
Plate VII. Fig. 5.
Plate VII. Fig. 6.
pp: 99.
Azuma M. (1962).
Shown in text as Globiscala kashiwajimensis M. Azuma, 1962
pp: 132.
pp: 133-134.
Barnard, K. H. (1963).
Shown in text as Scala bullata G. B. Sowerby II, 1844
pp: 104.
Kaicher, S.D. (1981).
Card #: EP2-3122.
Holotype: BMNH type collection 198139
Kilburn, R.N (1985).
160, NM 7135, Durban, 22,5 x n,9 mm;
161, NM 9120, Sezela, 13,5 x 8,7 mm;
DuShane, H. (1988a).
pp: 31.
Figure 5. .Apertural view of Epitonium bullatum (Sowerby, 1844). Length 13 mm, width 9 mm, Kaiser Collection. Thomas Reef, Sinai, Red Sea. Figure6. DorsalviewofE.htllatum.KaiserCollection.
Wilson, B.R. (1993).
pp: 379. Plate Australian Marine Shells.
Plate 44; fig 9
Higo, S., Callomon, P. & Goto, Y. (2001).
Shown in text as Globiscala kashiwajimensis M. Azuma, 1962
pp: 55. Fig. G19035.
G19035
27.5
Globiscala kashiwajimensis
AZUMA, 1962
Holotype: MA. Photo Y. Azuma
Nakayama, T. (2003).
pp: 139. Plate 18. Fig. 32.
figs 32-34: Epitonium (Globiscala) bullatum (Sowerby, 1844)
height 8.0 mm; breadth 6.0 mm (NA: figs 33-34)
height 27.5 mm; breadth 17.5 m (holotype of kashiwajimensis, AC: fig. 32)
Beechey, D. (2008).
pp: Globiscala bullata. Fig. 1.
Bustard Head, Queensland (C.334105)
MNHN (2025d).
Shown in text as Papyriscala vallata Jousseaume, 1912
