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Epitoniidae Berry, 1910 (1812)

Epitonium parspeciosum

(Iredale, 1929)

Description:

Dimensions range from 16 mm - 21 mm high and 11 mm wide.
Width to height ratio: 0.69:1 ~ 0.52:1

Shell: broad, stout; small to moderately small. Exterior colour uniformly tan, pale fawn, costae white. About 7 whorls, rounded, disconnected, joined only by costae; teleoconch with 6-7 whorls inflated. Suture very deep. Umbilicate: wide and deep. Approximately 10 costae on the body whorl. Costae are tall, strong, thin, sharp-edged, curving into the umbilicus. Costae aligned from whorl to whorl; hooked at the shoulders; slightly recurved. Intercostal spaces with faint spiral grooves. Aperture ovate; peristome complete; outer lip with normal rib. Operculum unknown.

This species is similar to the tropical species Epitonium pallasi (Kiener, 1838) but differs by the axial ribs being thinner, higher and consistently peaked, and by the whorls being more separated. The inter-whorl gap is about twice the average rib height in this species, but about equal to the average rib height in E. pallasi. [Beechey, Loc. cit.], somewhat similar to obesum but more delicate [Kaicher, Loc. cit.]


Distribution:

Sydney Harbour and Port Hacking, New South Wales [Wilson, 1993:278], with Beechey [2008] stating that the species is known only from those localities. Kaicher [1981: EP2-3098], however, gave the locality as South Australia, although no corroborating published records have been able to be located. Huang & Lee [2016:16] also cited a record from Taiwan.


Habitat:

Dredged from Sydney Harbour by dredge Triton; beach shells from Port Hacking [Beechey, 2008].


Etymology:

[latin] from par = equal or similar and speciosus = beautiful or splendid, most likely translated as somewhat or mostly beautiful.


Type Material:

Holotype: Australian Museum C-60640 for Epitonium parspeciosum (Iredale, 1929) - Type Locality: Sydney Harbour, by dredge Triton. [Beechey, D., 2008m]
Holotype: AMS C.60640 [as Scala parspeciosa Iredale, 1929] - Type Locality: Sydney Harbor, New South Wales, Australia.. [Brown, L. & Neville, B.D., 2015]


SpeciesImage

Iredale, T. (1929). Plate XXXVIII. Fig. 14.

Distribution

as listed in source literature

Iredale, T. (1929).
Species Image
Plate XXXVIII. Fig. 14.
Species Image
pp: 344-345.
Iredale, T. (1936).
Shown in text as LameHiscala parspeciosa Iredale.
Species Image
Plate xxii. Fig. 1.
Species Image
pp: 295.
Kaicher, S.D. (1980).
Species Image
pp: Card #: EP2-3090.
Australian Museum (2026).
Species Image
Fig. C.60640.
Epitonium parspeciosum (Iredale, 1929)
Holotype: C.60640
Australia, New South Wales, Sydney Harbour (33° 51' 00" S, 151° 14' 00" E) 1928 - 1929, Comtesse, Captain D L(Collector), Dredged.
Australian Museum. Photograph: M. Allen.Copyright Australian Museum. Released under Creative Commons Licence CC BY-NC 4.0.

Synonymy:

Lamlliscala parspeciosa Iredale, 1929 [in Iredale, T., 1936].
Scala parspeciosa Iredale, 1929 [in Australian Museum, 2026].
Scala parspeciosa Iredale, 1929 [in Brown, L. & Neville, B.D., 2015].


Source Literature:

Australian Museum (2026). Australian Museum provider for OZCAM. Occurrence dataset. Atlas of Living Australia. https://doi.org/10.15468/e7susi accessed via GBIF.org [Accessed 18 July 2026]
Beechey, D. (2008m). Epitonium_parspeciosum. Seashells of NSW. https://seashellsofnsw.org.au/Epitoniidae/Pages/Epitonium_parspeciosum.htm [Accessed 9 May 2023]
Brown, L. & Neville, B.D. (2015). Catalog of the recent taxa of the families Epitoniidae and Nystiellidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) with a bibliography of the descriptive and systematic literature. Zootaxa. 3907(1). Magnolia Press Auckland, New Zealand. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3907.1.1 [Accessed 22 October 2023]
Huang, C. W. & Lee, Y.C. (2016). Checklist of the family Epitoniidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) in Taiwan with description of a new species and some new records. Biodiversity Data Journal. 4. doi: 10.3897/ BDJ.4.e5653 [Accessed 25 August 2023]
Hutchings, P. & Ahyong, S. & Ashcroft, M. & Mcgrouther, Mark & Reid, A. (2013). Sydney Harbour: its diverse biodiversity. Australian Zoologist. 36. http://dx.doi.org/10.7882/AZ.2012.031 [Accessed 28 February 2026]
Iredale, T. (1929). Strange Molluscs in Sydney harbour. The Australian zoologist. 5(4). Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/38709554 [Accessed 8 July 2025]
Iredale, T. (1936). Australian molluscan notes. No. 2.. Records of the Australian Museum. 19(5). Australian Museum, Sydney. doi:10.3853/j.0067-1975.19.1936.704 [Accessed 14 September 2023]
Kaicher, S.D. (1980). Epitoniidae I [Pack 23]. S. D. Kaicher, St. Petersburg, Florida. http://www.femorale.com/kaicher/species.asp?f=Epitoniidae&c=125 [Accessed 8 May 2023]
Weil, A., Brown, L. & Neville, B. (1999). The Wentletrap Book. Evolver
Wilson, B.R. (1993). Australian Marine Shells. Australian Marine Shells. Vol.1. Odessey Publications
WoRMS Editorial Board, (2025). World Register of Marine Species. https://www.marinespecies.org [Accessed 8 November 2025]

WoRMS direct page link: Open WoRMS record