Epitoniidae Berry, 1910 (1812)

Epitonium carchedon

(Iredale, 1936)

Description:

Dimensions range from 8.5 mm - 9.2 mm high and 5.1 mm - 3 mm wide.
Width to height ratio: 0.6:1 ~ 0.33:1

Shell: slender, elongate; thin; small. Exterior colour creamy white. About 9 whorls, rounded, connected. Suture deep, canaliculate. Imperforate: umbilicus closed. Approximately 20 - 24 costae on the body whorl. Costae are thin, low to moderately tall, one or two thickened ribs per whorl. Costae not aligned; discontinuous between whorls; hooked with a small peak below the suture; not rolled back. Intercostal spaces fine spiral striae. Interstices with approximately 12 spiral striae per whorl. Aperture ovate; peristome complete; outer lip with thick rib externally, and a peak. Operculum unknown.

Distribution:

New South Wales & North Queensland Australia [Beechey, 2008]; Boso Peninsula to Kii Peninsula, Japan [Nakayama, 2003:64].

Habitat:

100 m [Nakayama, 2003:64]; known only from empty shells [Beechey, 2008].

Etymology:

.

Type Material:

Kaicher [1981:EP2-3091] and Brown & Neville [2015:50] list the holotype record as C60657, whereas both the Australian Museum [2026] online record, and Beechey [2008f] list iit as C60651.

Holotype: AMS C60657 for Epitonium carchedon (Iredale, 1936) - Type Locality: Sydney Harbour, New South Wales.. [Brown, L. & Neville, B.D., 2015]
Holotype: Australian Museum, C.60651 [as Foliaceiscala carchedon Iredale, 1936] - Type Locality: Australia, New South Wales, Sydney Harbour (33° 51' 00' S, 151° 14' 00' E) 1928 - 1929, Comtesse, Captain D L(Collector), Dredged.. [Australian Museum, 2026]

SpeciesImage

Iredale, T. (1936). Plate xxii. Fig. 13.

Distribution

as listed in source literature

Iredale, T. (1936).

Species Image

Plate xxii. Fig. 13.

Species Image

pp: 300.

original description

Beechey, D. (2008).

Species Image

pp: Epitonium carchedon. Fig. 1.

Holotype: Sydney Harbour, dredge Triton (C.060651)

Australian Museum (2026).

Shown in text as Foliaceiscala carchedon Iredale, 1936

Species Image

Fig. C.60651.

Epitonium carchedon (Iredale, 1936)
Holotype: C.60651
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:

Foliaceiscala carchedon Iredale, 1936 [in Australian Museum, 2026].

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. (2008f). Epitonium_carchedon. Seashells of NSW. https://seashellsofnsw.org.au/Epitoniidae/Pages/Epitonium_carchedon.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]
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. (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. (1981). Epitoniidae II [Pack 30]. S. D. Kaicher, St. Petersburg, Florida. http://www.femorale.com/kaicher/species.asp?f=Epitoniidae&c=125 [Accessed 8 May 2023]
Nakayama, T. (2003). A Review of Northwest Pacific Epitoniids. Monographs of Marine Mollusca. 6. Backhuys Publishers
Weil, A., Brown, L. & Neville, B. (1999). The Wentletrap Book. Evolver
WoRMS Editorial Board, (2025). World Register of Marine Species. https://www.marinespecies.org [Accessed 8 November 2025]

WoRMS direct page link: Open WoRMS record