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 surface with 7-9 blade-like axial costae which are sharply angulated and hooked at the shoulder and slightly reflexed backward,, 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.

Distribution:

Off Kii Peninsula to Tosa Bay, Pacific coast, Japan, and Sea of Japan; Philippines [Nakayama, 2003:43]; Yeppoon, Queensland Australia, Hawaii [DuShane, 1990:4]

Habitat:

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

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.

figs 1-3:
Epitonium (Epitonium) liliputanum (A. Adams, 1861) height 16.7mm; breadth 12.6 mm (KC);fig. 3, base

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.

Nakayama, T. (2003).

Species Image

pp: 125. Plate 11. Fig. 1-3.

figs 1-3:
Epitonium (Epitonium) liliputanum (A. Adams, 1861) height 16.7mm; breadth 12.6 mm (KC);fig. 3, base

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]
Nakayama, T. (2003). A Review of Northwest Pacific Epitoniids. Monographs of Marine Mollusca. 6. Backhuys Publishers
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