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Epitoniidae Berry, 1910 (1812)

Alexania moerchi

(A. Adams & Angas, 1864)

Description:

Dimensions range from 10.6 mm - 11 mm high and 6.36 mm wide.
Width to height ratio: 0.6:1 ~ 0.58:1

Shell: globose to turbinate; lightweight, thin; small. Exterior colour semi-transluscent, early whorls dark brown, last whorl brown above periphery, fawn below. About 9 whorls; protoconch with ~2 whorls rounded whorls, ending with low varix; teleoconch with ~7 whorls. Spire very acute. Suture deep. Umbilicate: closed, or a narrow slit beside inner lip of aperture. Intercostal spaces Smooth apart from axial growth lines. Columella slightly reflexed at the front. Aperture wide, round, ovate, large about half the length of shell; outer lip thin and sharp, widely arcuate; inner lip covered with a thin white callus. Periostracum thin, fawn, olive-colored.


Distribution:

In Australia; Moreton Bay, Queensland, southwards to Botany Bay, NSW [Beechey, 2008]


Habitat:

recorded with clumped sandy tubeworms (Galeolaria cespitosa) on exposed mid-tidal rocks [Beechey, 2008] and under stones, low water [Adams & Angas, 1864:423]


Etymology:

cannot be established, however it is possibly named after the Danish malacologist Otto Andreas Lowson Mörch (1828


Type Material:

Angas Collection, present location unknown. for Alexania moerchi (A. Adams & Angas, 1864) - Type Locality: Watson's Bay, Port Jackson, Australia, under stones, low water. [Brown, L. & Neville, B.D., 2015]


SpeciesImage

Beechey, D. (2008). pp: Alexania moerchi. Fig. 1.

Middle Harbour, NSW.
Protoconch missing. (C.032543)

Distribution

as listed in source literature

Adams, A. & Angas, G. F. (1864).
Species Image
pp: 423.
Original description
Kusoda, T (1943).
Shown in text as Habea inazawai Kuroda, 1943
Species Image
pp: 13.
Habea inazawai gen. et sp. nov.
type 6.3 x 4.55 mm
(Kamamura)
Species Image
pp: 13.
Species Image
pp: 14.
Beechey, D. (2008).
Species Image
pp: Alexania moerchi. Fig. 1.
Middle Harbour, NSW.
Protoconch missing. (C.032543)

Synonymy:

Habea inazawai Kuroda, 1943 [in Kusoda, T, 1943].


Source Literature:

Adams, A. & Angas, G. F. (1864). Descriptions of new species of shells from the Australian seas, in the collection of George French Angas. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1863. Zoological Society of London. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/30681772 [Accessed 3 March 2025]
Beechey, D. (2008). Shells NSW -Alexania_moerchi. https://seashellsofnsw.org.au/Epitoniidae/Pages/Alexania_moerchi.htm [Accessed 10 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]
Kusoda, T (1943). On a New Gastropod Genus Habea. Venus. 13(1-4). https://doi.org/10.18941/vinuskz.13.1-4_11 [Accessed 20 June 2025]
Weil, A., Brown, L. & Neville, B. (1999). The Wentletrap Book. Evolver
Wilson, B.R. (1993). Australian Marine Shells. Australian Marine Shells. 1. Odessey Publications
WoRMS Editorial Board (2025). World Register of Marine Species. https://www.marinespecies.org [Accessed 8 November 2025]

WoRMS direct page link: Open WoRMS record