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Epitoniidae Berry, 1910 (1812)

Murdochella macrina

Iredale, 1936

Description:

Dimensions range from 5 mm - 7 mm high and 1.25 mm wide.
Width to height ratio: 0.25:1 ~ 0.18:1

Shell: tall, slender, elongate; minute. Exterior colour white, dirty white. About 10 whorls; protoconch with ~2 whorls initially spirally corded, then axially ribbed, terminating with elevated varix; teleoconch with 7-8 whorls. Suture fairly deep. Imperforate: umbilicus closed. Approximately 50 costae on the body whorl. Costae are fine, erect, thin. Intercostal spaces strong spiral cords creating cancellate appearance where they intersect the costae. Interstices with approximately 5 spiral striae per whorl. Base base flat and a little excavated, with numerous spiral threads of variable strength and strong spiral cord. Columella basically straight and almost forming a canal-like projection with the basal cord. Aperture ovate; peristome incomplete; outer lip thin and sharp, flattened by the basal cord.


Distribution:

Moreton Bay Queensland southwards to eastern Bass Straight and to Bunbury, south-western WA, Australia [Beechey, 2008ab].


Habitat:

Off shore in deep water, from 75 to 158m [Beechey, 2008].


Etymology:

[greek] from makros = long or large, probably referring to the elongate form of the shell.


SpeciesImage

Iredale, T. (1936). Plate xxii. Fig. 19.

Distribution

as listed in source literature

Type Material:

The Australian Museum online catalogue contains two separate specimen records, both designated as the holotype: C.25862 from New South Wales [Australian Museum, 2026: C.25862] and C.123852 from Western Australia [Australian Museum, 2026: C.123852].

The following list brings together type material and other cited specimens as reported in the sources examined, grouped under the names and designations used in each source. The same specimen may appear in multiple entries drawn from different sources. Some entries concern other species included by authors for comparison; inclusion in this list does not imply synonymy.
Murdochella macrina Iredale, 1936HolotypeAMS C.123852. Western Australia, Great Australian Bight, E of Hood Point, Australia. Lat: 34° 25' 00'S, Lon: 121° 20' 00'E. Collected by: CSIRO. . 9/07/1962. Dredged;. [Australian Museum, 2026: C.123852].ParatypeAMS C.125800. Western Australia, Great Australian Bight, E of Hood Point, Australia. Lat: 34° 25' 00'S, Lon: 121° 20' 00'E. Collected by: CSIRO. . 9/07/1962. Dredged. [Australian Museum, 2026: C.125800].
Amaea macrina (Iredale, 1936)HolotypeAMS C.25862. New South Wales, 22mls E of Narrabeen, N of Sydney, Australia. Lat: 33° 42' 00'S, Lon: 151° 43' 00'E. Collected by: C.Hedley & Prof. W.A.Haswell. . 7/06/1906. Dredged. [Australian Museum, 2026: C.25862].
Murdochella macrina Iredale, 1936HolotypeAMS. 22 miles off Narrabeen, New South Wales, Australia. 147m [80 fthms]. [Brown & Neville, 2015: 15].Type22 miles east of Narrabeen, Australia. [80 fthms]. [Iredale, 1936: 302].


Iredale, T. (1936).
Shown in text as Murdochella macrina, Sp. novo
Species Image
Plate xxii. Fig. 19.
Species Image
pp: 302. Plate xxii.
original description
Australian Museum (2026).
Shown in text as Amaea macrina (Iredale, 1936)
Species Image
Fig. C.25862.
Murdochella macrina Iredale, 1936
Holotype: C.25862
Australia, New South Wales, 22mls E of Narrabeen, N of Sydney (33° 42' 00" S, 151° 43' 00" E) 07/06/1906 - 07/06/1906, C.Hedley & Prof. W.A.Haswell(Collector), Dredged.
Australian Museum. Photograph: M. Allen.
Copyright Australian Museum. Released under Creative Commons Licence CC BY-NC 4.0.

Synonymy:

Amaea macrina (Iredale, 1936) [Australian Museum, 2026: C.25862]
Glyptozaria westralis Garrard, 1982 [Beechey, 2008ab]
Murdochella macrina Iredale, 1936 [Iredale, 1936: 302; Brown & Neville, 2015: 15]


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. (2008ab). Murdochella_macrina. Seashells of NSW. https://seashellsofnsw.org.au/Epitoniidae/Pages/Murdochella_macrina.htm [Accessed 10 May 2023]
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]
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