Opalia ballinensis
(E. A. Smith, 1891)
Description:
Dimensions range from 16 mm - 22 mm high and 4.25 mm - 6.13 mm wide.
Width to height ratio: 0.27:1 ~ 0.28:1
Shell: elongated, pyramidal; thin; small to moderately small. Exterior colour whitish or pale brownish, slightly shiny. About 9 whorls. Suture oblique. Imperforate: umbilicus closed. Approximately 10 costae on the body whorl. Costae are fine on early whorls with the body whorl having more irregular, stronger costae [Kaicher, 1980:EP1-2389] with occasional low varices [Weil et al., 1999:138]. Costae irregularly crenulated. Intercostal spaces moderately convex, with conspicuous oblique lines of growth. Base sculpted with thin, nearly obsolete spiral striations. Columella oblique, thickened below, somewhat diffused. Aperture small, ovate-circular, lip scarcely thickened.
Distribution:
southern Queensland [Australian Museum, 2026: C.339200], and south to Sydney, New South Wales, Australia [Hutchings et al., 2013: 297].
Habitat:
presumably shallow water as dead shells occur in beach drift [Brown & Neville, 2015:43].
Etymology:
from Ballina, NSW and -ensis [latin suffix]= originating from, in reference to the location of the initially described specimen.
Type Material:
Syntypes: NHM 1890.12.13.54-57 for Opalia ballinensis (E. A. Smith, 1891) - Type Locality: Ballina, Mouth of Richmond River, New South Wales. [Natural History Museum, 2014: NHM 1890.12.13.54-57]
Iredale, T. (1936). Fig. 30.
Distribution
as listed in source literature
Smith, E. A. (1891b).
Shown in text as Scalaria ballmensi
pp: 139.
Original Description.
Translation: Shell elongated, pyramidal, imperforate, smooth, not ribbed, whitish or pale brownish, slightly shiny; with 9 normal whorls, moderately convex, regularly growing under a lens, with conspicuous oblique lines of growth, here and there almost varix-like, and sculpted with thin, nearly obsolete spiral striations; at the top near the slightly oblique suture irregularly crenulated, the last whorl around the middle bluntly angled; aperture small, ovate-circular, reaching 1/4 of the total length; columella oblique, thickened below, somewhat diffused; lip scarcely thickened
Iredale, T. (1936).
Fig. 30.
