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Epitoniidae Berry, 1910 (1812)

Epitonium deificum

(Melvill & Standen, 1903)

Description:

Dimensions range from 1.5 mm - 111 mm high and .5 mm - 4 mm wide.
Width to height ratio: 0.33:1 ~ 0.04:1

Shell: attenuate-fusiform, slender; delicate; microscopic to large. Exterior colour white-yellow, glistening. About 11 whorls; protoconch with 2-4 whorls very smooth, highly glassy, and shiny; teleoconch with 6-7 whorls rapidly inflating, ventricose, closely lamellate. Suture deep, impressed. Umbilicate: small but apparent. Approximately 11 - 18 costae on the body whorl. Costae are thin erect, thin, erect,. Costae hooked at suture. Intercostal spaces interspaces are spirally striate, interspaces spirally striate, easily seen without magnification, 21 between costae on last whorl. Interstices with approximately 21 spiral striae per whorl. Aperture round; outer lip lip continuous, thickened, sometimes with a small hook, slightly reflexed at the base of the columella.. Operculum unknown.


Distribution:

Selat Semau [Samau-strait], Indonesia [Schepman, 1909:224]; Gulf of Aden, Red Sea [DuShane, 1990:8]; Gulf of Oman to Karachi, India, [Melvill & Standen, 1903:343]; Easter Island [Brown & Raines, 2004:2]


Habitat:

In sand and rubble collected at 150 m, off the western coastline from Hanga Pico to Orongo, and from sand collected at 100 m from La Perouse Bay., Intertidal [DuShane, 1990:8] to 390m Coarse coral sand and rubble [Shepmann, 1909:224],


Etymology:

(deificus, divinely formed).


Type Material:

Syntype: BMNH type collection: 1903.12.15.19 (one ) (Trew, 1987). for Epitonium deificum (Melvill & Standen, 1903) - Locality: Gulf of Oman, 156 fathoms [= 285 m] (by original designation).. [Brown, L. & Raines, B., 2004]
Type: BMNH type collection 1903. 12. 15 for Epitonium deificum (Melvill & Standen, 1903) - Locality: Gulf of Aden, Red Sea. [DuShane, H., 1988]


SpeciesImage

Melvill, J. C. & Standen, R (1903). Plate VII. Fig. 4.

Distribution

as listed in source literature

Melvill, J. C. & Standen, R (1903).
Species Image
Plate VII. Fig. 4.
Species Image
pp: 343.
Kaicher, S.D. (1980).
Species Image
Card #: EP1-2316.
White; with about 18 thin, erect, hooked costae; interspaces spirally striate; co approx. 11 m. Offshore In deep water.
(BMNH cype collection 1903.12.15.
Brown, L. & Raines, B. (2004).
Species Image
pp: 3. Fig. 1A.
FIGURE 1. Epitonium (Parviscala) deificum (Melvill & Standen, 1903), length: 3.76 mm.

Source Literature:

Brown, L. & Raines, B. (2004). Two new records of Epitoniidae from Easter Island, Chile. Zootaxa. 402. Magnolia Press. https://www.mapress.com/zt/ [Accessed 14 September 2023]
DuShane, H. (1990). Hawaiian Epitoniidae. Hawaiian Shell News. 38(Sup.1). Hawaiian Malacological Society
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]
Melvill, J. C. & Standen, R (1903). The genus Scala (Klein) Humphrey, as represented in the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, and North Arabian Sea, with descriptions of new species.. Journal of Conchology. 10. Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/31650162 [Accessed 26 February 2025]
Schepman, M.M. (1909). The Prosobranchia of the Siboga Expedition. Part 2. Taenioglossa and Ptenoglossa. E.J. Brill,Leyden. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34314807 [Accessed 27 July 2025]
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