Header Image
Epitoniidae Berry, 1910 (1812)

Epitonium liliputanum

(A. Adams, 1861)

Description:

Dimensions range from 3.5 mm - 16.7 mm high and 2.5 mm - 12.6 mm wide.
Width to height ratio: 0.71:1 ~ 0.75:1

Shell: conical, globose, broadly pyramidal; solid; minute to small. Exterior colour white to brown. About 10 whorls, strongly convex; protoconch with 4-5 whorls dark, glassy; teleoconch with 4-5 whorls rapidly enlargiing. Suture suture fenestrated, deep. Umbilicate: perforated, open, but may be partially hidden by the lip. Approximately 6 - 10 costae on the body whorl. Costae are blade-like, thin, spaced apart. Costae sharply angulated and hooked at the shoulder; slightly reflexed backward. Intercostal spaces with spiral lines. Aperture ovate; outer lip broad. Operculum dark.

DuShane [1990:4] noted that the figure of E. alatum published by Kaicher [1980: EP1-2287], shown below, clearly shows spiral striations between the costae and concluded that it represents Epitonium liliputanum (A. Adams, 1861).


Distribution:

Off Kii Peninsula to Tosa Bay, Pacific coast, Japan, and Sea of Japan; Philippines [Nakayama, 2003:43]; Korean Peninsular [NIBR, 2019:328]; Vietnam [Hylleberg & Kilburn, 2003:67]; Yeppoon, Queensland Australia, Hawaii [DuShane, 1990:4].


Habitat:

intertidal to 400 m [DuShane, 1990:4], sand [Higo et al., 1999: G1886].


Etymology:

[latin] derived from Lilliputian, referencing the tiny people of Lilliput in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels (1726). This is presumably in reference to small size of the shell.


Type Material:

Type not indicated in text for Epitonium liliputanum (A. Adams, 1861) - Type Locality: Sea of Japan (details not given). [Nakayama, T., 2003]
Type not located [as Scala liliputana A. Adams, 1861] - Type Locality: Sea of Japan. [Brown, L. & Neville, B.D., 2015]
Type not indicated in text for Epitonium liliputanum (A. Adams, 1861) - Type Locality: Sea of Japan. [Higo, S., Callomon, P. & Goto, Y., 1999]


SpeciesImage

Nakayama, T. (2003). pp: 125. Plate 11. Fig. 1-3.

Epitonium (Epitonium) liliputanum (A. Adams, 1861)
height 16.7mm; breadth 12.6 mm

Distribution

as listed in source literature

Adams, A. (1861).
Species Image
pp: 482.
Shell small, swollen, globose-conical, broadly umbilicated, white; whorls 3½, strongly convex; sutures deep; varices thin, spaced apart, the spaces between them spirally and transversely ridged; aperture circular.
Kaicher, S.D. (1980).
Species Image
Fig. EP1-2287.
DuShane [1990:4] noted that this figure of E. alatum published by Kaicher [1980: EP1-2287], clearly shows spiral striations between the costae and concluded that it represents Epitonium liliputanum (A. Adams, 1861).
Nakayama, T. (2003).
Species Image
pp: 125. Plate 11. Fig. 1-3.
Epitonium (Epitonium) liliputanum (A. Adams, 1861)
height 16.7mm; breadth 12.6 mm

Synonymy:

Scala liliputana A. Adams, 1861 [in Brown, L. & Neville, B.D., 2015].


Source Literature:

Adams, A. (1861). On the Scalidae or "Wentletraps" of the Sea of Japan; with descriptions of some new species. Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 3(8). https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/22192456 [Accessed 7 July 2025]
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]
DuShane, H. (1990). Hawaiian Epitoniidae. Hawaiian Shell News. 38(Sup.1). Hawaiian Malacological Society
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]
Huang, C. W. & Lee, Y.C. (2016). Checklist of the family Epitoniidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) in Taiwan with description of a new species and some new records. Biodiversity Data Journal. 4. doi: 10.3897/ BDJ.4.e5653 [Accessed 25 August 2023]
Hylleberg, J. & Kilburn, R. N. (2003). Marine molluscs of Vietnam: Annotations, voucher material. Phuket Marine Biological Center Special Publication. 28
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]
Nakayama, T. (2003). A Review of Northwest Pacific Epitoniids. Monographs of Marine Mollusca. 6. Backhuys Publishers
NIBR National Institute of Biological Resources, (2019). National Species List of Korea II. Vertebrates · Invertebrates · Protozoa. National Institute of Biological Resources.
Weil, A., Brown, L. & Neville, B. (1999). The Wentletrap Book. Evolver
WoRMS Editorial Board, (2025). World Register of Marine Species. https://www.marinespecies.org [Accessed 8 November 2025]

WoRMS direct page link: Open WoRMS record