Epitonium obesum
(G. B. Sowerby II, 1847)
Description:
Dimensions range from 16 mm - 16 mm high.
Width to height ratio: 00:1 ~ 00:1
Shell: broad, stout, short, ventricose; sturdy; small. Exterior colour yellowish aperture, costae pale grey. About 6 whorls, rounded, barely separated, contiguous. Umbilicate: small. Approximately 14 costae on the body whorl. Costae are numerous, thick, rounded, may thicken to form a varix. Costae elevated near the suture; strongly recurved. Aperture obliquely oval, margin yellowish.
Distribution:
Exact distribution remains uncertain. Kaicher [1981: EP2-3098] and Brown & Neville [2015:114] listed the species as occurring in Australia, whereas it was omitted entirely by Wilson [1993]. Museum records, however, indicate specimens from South Australia [South Australian Museum, 2026: D51386], Augusta, Western Australia [Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, 2026: M.331152], and Yeppoon, Queensland [Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, 2026: M.330487]. Additionally, Weil et al. figure a specimen from Yeppoon [1999: p.131 fig.405].
Habitat:
not reported.
Etymology:
[latin] from obesus = fat or stout.
Type Material:
Syntype: NHM 1981232 [as Scalaria obesa G. B. Sowerby II, 1844] - Type Locality: Australia. [Natural History Museum, 2014: 1981232]
Sowerby, G. B. II. (1844). Plate xxxiii. Fig. 70.
Distribution
as listed in source literature
Sowerby, G. B. II. (1844).
Shown in text as Scalaria obesa G.B. Sowerby, II, 1844:
Plate xxxiii. Fig. 70.
Plate xxxiii. Fig. 71.
pp: 89.
Sowerby, G. B. II. (1873).
Shown in text as Scalaria obesa G.B. Sowerby, II, 1844:
Plate iv. Fig. 22a.
Plate iv. Fig. 22b.
Species 22. (Fig. a, 6, Mus. Brit.)
Tryon, G.W. (1887).
Shown in text as Scalaria obesa G. B. Sowerby II, 1844
Plate 11. Fig. 38.
Plate 11. Fig. 39.
pp: 55.
Clessin, S. (1897).
Shown in text as Scalaria obesa G.B. Sowerby, II, 1844:
Plate 6. Fig. 8-9.
pp: 24.
Shell short, broad, swollen, whitish; with few, rounded, contiguous whorls; the last whorl swollen, with numerous thick, rounded varices; aperture somewhat ovate, with a yellowish margin.
Kaicher, S.D. (1981).
