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Epitoniidae Berry, 1910 (1812)

Epitonium platypleurum

(Verco, 1906)

Description:

Dimensions range from 5 mm - 5 mm high and 2.3 mm - 2.5 mm wide.
Width to height ratio: 0.46:1 ~ 0.5:1

Shell: moderatley elongate; moderately solid; minute. Exterior colour white. About 10 whorls, convex; protoconch with ~2 whorls smooth whorls; teleoconch with ~8 whorls convex. Suture deep, simple. Approximately 15 costae on the body whorl. Costae are solid, rather low, surface slightly irregular. Costae subangular below the suture; a free edge projects slightly on either side of the costa. Intercostal spaces obscure spiral striae present in the interstice. Columella oblique gutter at the base of the columella.. Aperture roundly quadrate.

It differs from .S. jukesiana, Forbes, in the more rapid increase of its whorls, its fewer and much more solid varices, which also run forward and downwards instead of backward. [Verco, 1906]


Distribution:

Western Port, Victoria [Macpherson, 1962:115]; Backstairs Passage to Francis Island, Cape Buffon, South Australia [Verco, 1906:145]


Habitat:

40 m


Etymology:

[greek] from platys = broad or flat and pleura= side or rib


Type Material:

Holotype: SM D.13460 [as Scala platypleura Verco, 1906] - Type Locality: Backstairs Passage, South Australia, 22 fms [= 40 m].. [Brown, L. & Neville, B.D., 2015]


SpeciesImage

Verco, J.C. (1906). pp: 145. Plate IV. Fig. 6.

Scala platypleura, spec. nov. PL iv., fig. 6.

Distribution

as listed in source literature

Verco, J.C. (1906).
Species Image
pp: 145. Plate IV. Fig. 6.
Scala platypleura, spec. nov. PL iv., fig. 6.
Species Image
pp: 145.
original description
Cotton, B.C. & Godfrey, F.K. (1931).
Species Image
pp: 13. Plate I. Fig. 1.
Species Image
pp: 6.

Synonymy:

Scala platypleura Verco, 1906 [in Brown, L. & Neville, B.D., 2015].
Scala platypleura, spec. nov. [in Verco, J.C., 1906].


Source Literature:

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]
Cotton, B.C. & Godfrey, F.K. (1931). South Australian Shells Part II. The South Australian Naturalist. 13(1). Field Naturalists Society of South Australia. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42129287 [Accessed 8 June 2025]
Macpherson, J.H. & Gabriel, C.J. (1962). Marine Molluscs of Victoria. Melbourne University Press and National Museum of Victoria: Melbourne.. https://archive.org/details/marinemolluscsof0000jhop/page/118/mode/2up [Accessed 13 June 2025]
Verco, J.C. (1906). Notes on South Australian marine Mollusca, with descriptions of new species. Part IV.. Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia. 30 Pt 4. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16124267 [Accessed 19 June 2023]
Weil, A., Brown, L. & Neville, B. (1999). The Wentletrap Book. Evolver
Wilson, B.R. (1993). Australian Marine Shells. Australian Marine Shells. 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