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Epitoniidae Berry, 1910 (1812)

Epitonium kazusense

(Yokoyama, 1922)

Description:

Dimensions range from 9 mm - 20.5 mm high and 7.3 mm - 7.6 mm wide.
Width to height ratio: 0.81:1 ~ 0.37:1

Shell: elongate, turriculate; small to moderately small. Exterior colour off white, cream. About 8 whorls, convex. Suture deep. Imperforate. Approximately 20 costae on the body whorl. Costae are rather thick, lamellar, straight, equal, rather thick, straight and equal. Intercostal spaces with fine, equal, distant spiral striae. Aperture roundly ovate, subcircular; peristome somewhat broad.


Distribution:

From Boso Peninsula to Sagami Bay, Tokyo Bay.


Habitat:

30-100 m (Nakayama l2003)


Etymology:

Possibly in reference to 'Kazusa', an old province in Japan, now part of Chiba Prefecture, on Honshu. The holotype is from this area


Type Material:

Type not indicated in text for Epitonium kazusense (Yokoyama, 1922) - Locality: Shito, Chiba, Japan (fossil). [Nakayama, T., 2003]
Holotype: UMUT-CM, holotype apparently lost (Nakayama 2003: 63). [as Scalaria kazusensis Yokoyama, 1922:] - Locality: Shito, Japan (fossil).. [Brown, L. & Neville, B.D., 2015]
Type not indicated in text for Epitonium kazusense (Yokoyama, 1922) - Locality: Shitgn_TMCollection.EpitoniidaeSLD WHERE SKSLD='9F5A01FA-C31A-44E8-A6AC-92BB565CF091' AND EPID=1358 FOR UP


SpeciesImage

Yokoyama, M (1922). Plate IV. Fig. 16.

Distribution

as listed in source literature

Yokoyama, M (1922).
Species Image
Plate IV. Fig. 16.
Species Image
pp: 87.
Original Description
Nakayama, T. (2003).
Species Image
pp: 131. Plate 14. Fig. 5-7.
Epitonium (Parviscala) kazusense (Yokoyama, 1922)
height 20.5 mm; breadth 7.6 mm (WC: figs 5-7, fig. 7, base)

Synonymy:

Scalaria kazusensis Yokoyama, 1922: [in Brown, L. & Neville, B.D., 2015].


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]
Higo, S., Callomon, P. & Goto, Y. (1999). Catalogue and Bibliography of the Marine Shell-Bearing Mollusca of Japan.. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266375656_Catalogue_and_Bibliography_of_the_Marine_Shell-Bearing_Mollusca_of_Japan [Accessed 25 July 2025]
Nakayama, T. (2003). A Review of Northwest Pacific Epitoniids. Monographs of Marine Mollusca. 6. Backhuys Publishers
WoRMS Editorial Board (2025). World Register of Marine Species. https://www.marinespecies.org [Accessed 8 November 2025]
Yokoyama, M (1922). Fossils from the Upper Musashino of Kazusa and Shimosa.. Journal of the College of Science, Imperial University of Tokyo. 44(1). http://umdb.um.u-tokyo.ac.jp/DKoseibu/pdf/Ref_0465_.pdf [Accessed 21 June 2025]

WoRMS direct page link: Open WoRMS record