Epitonium pallasi
(Kiener, 1838)
Description:
Dimensions range from 7.31 mm - 40 mm high and 5.08 mm - 27.01 mm wide.
Width to height ratio: 0.69:1 ~ 0.68:1
Shell: broadly fusiform; small to medium. Exterior colour yellow or chestnut, fawn or pale-brown, costae white. About 8 whorls, connected at the suture, a little disunited; teleoconch with 7 whorls. Suture perforated. Umbilicate: widely open. Approximately 6 - 16 costae on the body whorl. Costae are blade-like, prominent, widely spaced. Costae not aligned; do not cross the suture; with a small tooth- like projection at the shoulder below the suture. Intercostal spaces with microscopic spiral striae. Aperture oval-subquadrate.
Axial costae of E. pallasi pallasi are hooked and numerous [Nakayama, 2003: 41], while those of E. pallasi neglectum are fewer in number and rather roundly shaped at the suture
Distribution:
Korean Peninsular [NIBR, 2019:328]; Sagami Bay to Tosa Bay, Japan; Taiwan, Philippines to Australia [Nakayama, 203:41]; Fiji, Indonesia [Garcia, 2003:14]; Vietnam [Hylleberg & Kilburn, 2003:67]; Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea [Wells et al., 2021:128]; Mauritius [Tryon 1879: 54], Seychells [Melvill, 1909].
Habitat:
50-320m, sand.
Etymology:
While not specifically stated, it is presumed that this species is named for the Prussian zoologist, Peter Simon Pallas who published a drawing of the shell in 'Spicilegia zoologica' [Pallas, 1774: 33: pl. 3, fig. 5-6].
Type Material:
Brown & Neville [2015: 117], following Petit [2003: 43], regarded Scalaria pallas Perry, 1811 as a nomen dubium, noting that it has not been used since its description and that Perry's figure cannot be attributed to any known epitoniid species. Petit [2003: 43] further clarified that S. pallas and S. pallasii Kiener, 1838 are not homonyms, as pallas is a noun in apposition whereas pallasii is a genitive noun.
Sowerby [1844: 83] cited Turbo principalis Pallas, 1774 in association with Scalaria pallassii, although apparently with some uncertainty ("as some authors state"). Brown & Neville [2015: 124] retain T. principalis as a separate available name and regard it as a nomen dubium. Pallas's [1774: 33, pl. 3, figs 5-6] figure is included here to document Sowerby's historical association of the two names, rather than as evidence of synonymy.
Type not stated in source document for Epitonium pallasi (Kiener, 1838) - Type Locality: Catanauan, Luzon Island, Philippines. [Nakayama, 2003: 41]
Type not given [as Scalaria nicobarica 'Beck' G.B. Sowerby II, 1844] - Type Locality: not given.. [Brown & Neville, 2015: 112]
Type not located [as Scalaria pallas Perry, 1811] - Type Locality: 'Baltic Sea'. [Brown & Neville, 2015: 117]
Type not located [as Scalaria pallasii Kiener, 1838] - Type Locality: not stated. [Brown & Neville, 2015: 117]
Type not located [as Scalaria subpretiosa de Blainville in de Blainville, DeFrance & Deshayes, 1827] - Type Locality: none designated. [Brown & Neville, 2015: 144]
Sowerby, G. B. II. (1844). Plate xxxii. Fig. 14, 15 ,16.
Distribution
as listed in source literature
Pallas, P.S. (1774).
Plate III. Fig. 5.
Pallas- original images
Plate III. Fig. 6.
Pallas- original images
pp: 33.
Pallas- original description
Turso principalis is shown in figures 5 and 6. It is related to Turbo scalaris, made famous by the obsession of certain wealthy collectors. This species is considered rarer and more valuable than the common one, from which it differs scarcely at all, except by being less thick and having more than twice as many longitudinal sutures. Its colour is also white, like the other, and its shell is delicate, with loosely coiled whorls, connected only at the sutures, a notable feature.
Sowerby, G. B. II. (1844).
Plate xxxii. Fig. 14, 15 ,16.
pp: 83-84.
Plate xxxii. Fig. 14, 15 ,16.
Sowerby, G. B. II. (1873).
Shown in text as Scalaria pallasii
Plate vi. Fig. 40a.
Plate vi. Fig. 40b.
Kiener, L. C., & Fischer, P (1873a).
Plate 2. Fig. 3a.
Plate 2. Fig. 3b.
pp: 4-5.
Tryon, G.W. (1887).
Plate 11. Fig. 33.
pp: 54.
Clessin, S. (1897).
Plate 16. Fig. 2.
pp: 59.
Shell pyramidal, perforate, pale yellowish or brownish between the varices; whorls seven, slightly disjointed; varices lamellar, prominent, widely spaced, regularly following each other, bluntly angled near the suture.
Shell pyramidal, umbilicated (perforated), pale yellow or brown in the spaces between the longitudinal folds; whorls seven, barely connected, rounded; longitudinal folds leaf-like, prominent, somewhat widely spaced, regular, continuous with those of the preceding whorls, and drawn into a blunt angle near the suture. Aperture rounded, lip thickened.
Habitat: East Indies (Stuttgart Museum), Philippines.
Kaicher, S.D. (1980).
Card #: EP1-2382.
Nakayama, T. (2003).
pp: 123. Plate 10. Fig. 22.
fig. 22: Epitonium (Epitonium) pallasiipallasii (Kiener, 1838)
height 30.9 mm; breadth 19.4 mm (KC)
Garcia, E.F. (2003).
