Header Image
Epitoniidae Berry, 1910 (1812)

Epitonium tenellum

(F. W. Hutton, 1885)

Description:

Dimensions range from 9.86 mm - 22 mm high and 4.87 mm - 9 mm wide.
Width to height ratio: 0.49:1 ~ 0.41:1

Shell: avergae width, moderately tall, elongate broadly oval; rather thin; small to moderately small. Exterior colour fawn or light brown, sometimes with a brown peripheral stripe around the base, costae white. About 8 whorls, rounded, connected; rounded; protoconch Apex missing. Suture deep. Umbilicate: very small, almost concealed by inner lip of aperture. Approximately 15 - 26 costae on the body whorl. Costae are low, thin, rounded, flattened on the last whorl. Costae not continuous from whorl to whorl; not peaked. Intercostal spaces smooth and shining. Base without basal chord. Aperture ovate; peristome almost complete, slightly flaring anteriorly; outer lip with normal rib externally. Operculum corneous.


Distribution:

Port Douglas, Queensland, NSW [Beechey, 2008] south to Western Port, Victoria [Macpherson & Gabriel, 1962:115] and north coast of Tasmania [Tate & May, 1901:379]; New Zealand [Hutton, 1885:943].


Habitat:

intertidal and shallow water to 27m, also in beach drift [Beechey, 2008].


Etymology:

[latin] from tenellus = diminutive form of tener, meaning tender or delicate.


Type Material:

Brown & Neville [2015: 113] considered Scalaria novoseelandiae Clessin, 1897 to be conspecific with Epitonium tenellum (Hutton, 1885).
Iredale [1936:299] considered the Australian shells referred to as Epitonium tenellum (F. W. Hutton, 1885) to differ from Hutton's species in being smaller, narrower, and having fewer ribs, and consequently proposed Limiscala helicornua.
After comparing approximately 100 eastern Australian shells with a series from New Zealand, Kerslake [1969:18] concluded that these differences did not exist. Limiscala helicornua is currently regarded as a junior synonym of E. tenellum [WoRMS Editorial Board, 2025].
Brown & Neville [2015:146] cited NMNZ M.000173 as a possible syntype of Epitonium tenellum (Hutton, 1885). However, the specimen is not identified as a syntype in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa online catalogue [Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, 2026: M.000173].

Type possibly lost: Stuttgart Museum; not listed in the Museum's on-line type catalog. [as Scalaria novoseelandiae Clessin, 1897] - Type Locality: Neuseeland, i.e., New Zealand.. [Brown & Neville, 2015: 113]
Syntype [possible]: NMNZ M.000173 [as Scalaria tenella Hutton, 1885] - Type Locality: Stewart's Island, Auckland, New Zealand.. [Brown & Neville, 2015: 146]
Holotype: Australian Museum: C.60649 [as Limiscala helicornua 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: C.60649]
Paratype: Australian Museum: C.346137 [as Limiscala helicornua 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: C.346137]


SpeciesImage

Museum of New Zealand (2025c).

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Registration number
M.000173

Distribution

as listed in source literature

Hutton, F. W. (1885).
Species Image
pp: 943.
original description
Clessin, S. (1897).
Shown in text as Epitonium novoseelandiae (Clessin, 1897)
Species Image
Plate 15. Fig. 4.
Species Image
pp: 57.
Iredale, T. (1936).
Shown in text as Limiscala helicornua, sp. novo
Species Image
Plate xxii. Fig. 11.
Species Image
pp: 299. Plate xxii.
Kerslake, J. (1969).
Species Image
pp: 22. Plate 1. Fig. 1-2.
Holotype of Limiscala helicorua Iredale, 1936,Australian Museum reg. no. C.60649
Sydney Harbour, New South Wales.
photographed by C. V. Turner, Australian Museum.
Species Image
pp: 22. Plate 1. Fig. 3-4.
Epitonium tenellum (Hutton, 1885)
Auckland, New Zealand. Length 12.8 mm.
J. Kerslake collection.
Museum of New Zealand (2025c).
Species Image
Syntype Registration number
M.000173
Australian Museum (2026).
Shown in text as Limiscala helicornua Iredale, 1936
Species Image
Limiscala helicornua Iredale, 1936
Holotype: C.60649
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:

Epitonium helicornuum (Iredale, 1936) [Hutchings et al., 2013: 297]
Epitonium novoseelandiae (Clessin, 1897) [Clessin, 1897: 87]
Limiscala helicornua Iredale, 1936 [Iredale, 1936: 299; Brown & Neville, 2015: 82; Kaicher, 1980: EP1-2320; Macpherson & Gabriel, 1962: 115; Australian Museum, 2026: C.60649; Australian Museum, 2026: C.346137]
Scalaria novoseelandiae Clessin, 1897 [Brown & Neville, 2015: 113]
Scalaria novoseelandiae Clessin, 1897 [Clessin, 1897: 4]
Scalaria tenella F. W. Hutton, 1885 [Brown & Neville, 2015: 146; Hutton, 1885: 943; Tate & May, 1901: 379]


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. (2008q). Epitonium_tenellum. Seashells of NSW. https://seashellsofnsw.org.au/Epitoniidae/Pages/Epitonium_tenellum.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]
Clessin, S. (1897). Die Familie der Scalariidae. In W. Kobelt (Ed.), Systematisches Conchylien-Cabinet von Martini und Chemnitz. Neu herausgegeben und vervollständigt. 2(13). Bauer & Raspe, NürnbergBauer & Raspe, Nürnberg. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34259905 [Accessed 21 June 2025]
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]
Hutton, F. W. (1885). Revision of the marine taeniglossate and ptenoglossate Mollusca of New Zealand. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. 9. Sydney Linnean Society of New South Wales. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/partpdf/29978 [Accessed 15 March 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]
Kerslake, J. (1969). Reinstatement of Epitonium (Papyriscala) tenellum (Hutton) (Gastropoda: Epitoniidae) to eastern Australian molluscan lists. Journal of the Malacological Society of Australia. 1(12). https://doi.org/10.1080/00852988.1969.10673828 [Accessed 30 July 2026]
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]
Museum of New Zealand (2025c). Image Epitonium tenellum (Hutton, 1885) (M.000173). Museum of New Zealand. https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/148413 [Accessed 29 March 2025]
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (2026). Mollusc collection at Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Occurrence dataset. Atlas of Living Australia. https://doi.org/10.15468/3brne9 [Accessed 18 July 2026]
South Wales. 26(3). https://biostor.org/reference/53643 [Accessed 5 November 2025]
Tate, R. & May, W.L. (1901). A revised census of the marine Mollusca of Tasmania. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New
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 at VLIZ. [Accessed 8 November 2025]

WoRMS direct page link: Open WoRMS record