Epitonium scalare
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Description:
Dimensions range from 36 mm - 70 mm high and 16 mm - 42.5 mm wide.
Width to height ratio: 0.44:1 ~ 0.61:1
Shell: ventricose, stout, conical, elongated, turreted, rather broad at the base; moderately small to medium. Exterior colour white to pale grey or fawn, white to pale grey or fawn, snowy white or sometimes pale flesh-colour, costae white. About 12 whorls, strongly convex, rapidly increasing, rounded, separated, connected by the costae; protoconch smooth, glass-like and opaque; teleoconch with 8-12 whorls. Spire extended. Suture widely perforated. Umbilicate: widely open, the early whorls being visible from within. Approximately 8 - 15 costae on the body whorl. Costae are blade-like, low, solid, occasionally thickened. Costae aligned; joined across the suture; not coronate; somewhat recurved, edges slightly rolled over. Intercostal spaces with microscopic fine spiral threads. Base without basal disc or ridge, ribs extending onto the base. Columella reflected below, thickened. Aperture oblong-ovate, large, brown within, lip reflected, the lip being the last costa produced; peristome complete. Operculum black, paucispiral.
Distribution:
China [Coan et al., 2015: 214]; Korean Peninsular [NIBR, 2019:328]; Japan, Philippines, Indonesia [Clench & Turner, 1951:253]; Queensland south to Hervey Bay, Australia [Wilson, 1993: 379], Hutchings et al. [2013:297] also cite records from Sydney Harbour; Vietnam [Hylleberg & Kilburn, 2003:67]; Andaman Sea and Gulf of Thailand [Wells et al., 2021: 128]; India, Pakistan [Melvill & Standen, 1903a:345]; Sri Lanka, Red Sea; Natal, South Africa [Kilburn, 1985: 281]. Mørch [187: 252] also cites a specimen as Scala principalis Pallas, 1774 from the British Virgin Islands.
Habitat:
20 to 50m, sand [Higo et al., 1999]; mud, muddy sand, loose rock [Melvill & Standen, 1903a:345].
Etymology:
[latin] from scalaris =relating to or resembling a flight of stairs, or a ladder.
Reeve, L. A. (1873). Plate i. Fig. 4.
Distribution
as listed in source literature
Type Material:
Clench & Turner [1951: 253] selected the image provided by Gaultieri 1742, plate 10, fig. zz as the type image.
Hanley [1855: 339] considered Linnaeus's Turbo scalaris readily identifiable as Scalaria pretiosa, despite Linnaeus not possessing a specimen himself. He also noted that Linnaeus's copy of the Systema Naturae gave Tranquebar as the locality.
The following list brings together type material and other cited specimens as reported in the sources examined, grouped under the names and designations used in each source. The same specimen may appear in multiple entries drawn from different sources. Some entries concern other species included by authors for comparison; inclusion in this list does not imply synonymy.
[Turbo] principalis Pallas, 1774Type not locatedno location provided, [Brown & Neville, 2015: 124].
Epitonium (Epitonium) scalare (Linnaeus, 1758)Type Figure[Clench & Turner, 1951: 253].Gualtieri, 1742: pl. 10, fig. zz. [Kilburn, 1985: 281].Type not designated[Higo et al., 1999: G1860].Type unknown[Nakayama, 2003: 39].
Epitonium breve Röding, 1798Type not locatedLocation not given, [Brown & Neville, 2015: 47].
Epitonium lineatum Röding, 1798Type not locatedLocation not given, [Brown & Neville, 2015: 97].Location not given, [Brown & Neville, 2015: 97].
Epitonium medium Röding, 1798Type not locatedLocation not given, [Brown & Neville, 2015: 103].
Epitonium principale Röding, 1798Type not locatedno location provided, [Brown & Neville, 2015: 124].
Scala pretiosa var. multivaricifera M. Smith, 1911HolotypeMr. Maxwell Smith private collection. China. [Brown & Neville, 2015: 109].
Scalaria conica Lamarck, 1801Type not designatedLocation not given, [Brown & Neville, 2015: 55].
Scalaria disjuncta Perry, 1811Type not locatedthe Eastern Seas (Perry 1811a: unnumbered page), ' and Amboyna' (Perry 1811b: unnumbered page), Sri Lanka. [Brown & Neville, 2015: 64].
Scalaria genuina Link, 1807Type not designatedLocation not given, [Brown & Neville, 2015: 76].
Scalaria pretiosa var. minor Grabau & S. G. King, 1928SyntypeMBM280648. Peitaiho, Hebei Province, China. . 1/07/1925. [7 specimens]. [Coan et al., 2015: 214].
Scalaria subtilis var. laevis Grabau & S. G. King, 1928Type not locatedPeitaiho, China. [Brown & Neville, 2015: 94].
Turbo scalaris Linnaeus, 1758Lectotype[Brown & Neville, 2015: 136].
Turbo scalaris var. rosea Spalowsky, 1795Type not locatedLittus ad Coromandel ind. orient. [Coromandel coast of the Indian Ocean.], [Brown & Neville, 2015: 133].
Gualtieri, N. (1742).
Plate ZZ.
illustration referred to in the original description
Linnaeus, C (1758).
Shown in text as Turbo scalaris Linnaeus, 1758
pp: 764.
original description
Röding, P. F. (1798).
Shown in text as Epitonium lineatum Röding, 1798
pp: 94.
Montfort P. [Denys de] (1810).
Shown in text as Scalaria scalata Montfort, 1810
pp: 295.
pp: 296.
Lamarck, J. B. P. A. de M. de (1816).
Plate 451. Fig. 1b.
Plate 451. Fig. 1a.
Dillwyn, L. W. (1817).
Shown in text as Turbo scalaris Linnaeus, 1758
pp: 852-852.
of interest is this note about monies paid for this species Da Costa, in his Elements of Conchology, relates that in 1753, at the sale of Commodore Lisle's collection, four of these Wentletraps were sold as follows:
First day, Lot 96, one not quite perfect - £16 16s. 0d.
Third day, Lot 98, a very fine and perfect one - £18 18s. 0d.
Fourth day, Lot 101, one - £16 16s. 0d.
Sixth day, Lot 83, one - £23 2s. 0d.
Sowerby, G. B. II. (1844).
Shown in text as Scalaria pretiosa Lamarck, 1816
Plate xxxii. Fig. 17.
pp: 83.
Reeve, L.A. (1873).
Shown in text as Scalaria pretiosa Lamarck, 1816
Plate i. Fig. 4.
Kiener, L. C., & Fischer, P (1873a).
Shown in text as Scalaire precieuse: Scalaria pretiosa Lamarck, 1816
Plate 1. Fig. 1.
pp: 3.
pp: 4.
Tryon, G.W. (1887).
Shown in text as Scalaria pretiosa Lamarck, 1816
Plate 11. Fig. 31.
pp: 54.
Clessin, S. (1897).
Shown in text as Scalaria pretiosa Lamarck, 1816
Plate 3. Fig. 2.
pp: 9.
Shell large, swollen, broadly umbilicated, pale yellowish-purple between the varices; whorls rapidly increasing, rounded, separated; varices distant, lamellar, prominently projecting, slightly crenulated; aperture large, brown inside, columella reflexed and thickened below.
Smith, M (1911).
Shown in text as Scala pretiosa var. multivaricifera M. Smith, 1911
pp: 56-57.
Jousseaume, F. (1912).
Shown in text as Turbo scalaris Linnaeus, 1758
pp: 196-194.
Mermod, G. (1963).
Shown in text as Scalaria pretiosa Lamarck, 1816
pp: 160.
pp: 160. Fig. 225.
Coan, E. & Lutaenko, K. & ZHANG, J. & Sun, Q. (2015).
Shown in text as Scalaria pretiosa var. minor Grabau & S. G. King, 1928
