Header Image
Epitoniidae Berry, 1910 (1812)

Alora gouldii

(A. Adams, 1857)

Description:

Dimensions range from 15 mm - 41.9 mm high and 13 mm - 23.2 mm wide.
Width to height ratio: 0.87:1 ~ 0.55:1

Shell: globose, turbinate; small to medium. Exterior colour white. About 3 whorls; protoconch with ~3 whorls the upper half of each nuclear whorl glassy, the lower half white; teleoconch with 5 whorls rapidly expanding, convex whorls. Suture deep. Imperforate: umbilicus closed. Approximately 39 costae on the body whorl. Costae are unevenly spaced. Intercostal spaces with strong spiral cords which intersect the costae giving a beaded appearance. Interstices with approximately 7 - 18 spiral striae per whorl. Aperture oval, lip reflected at the shell base; outer lip thin, crenulated by the spiral ribs; inner lip incomplete. Operculum unknown. Periostracum light brown.


Distribution:

Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico, to Panama [DuShane 1974: 52]; Guayas, Ecuador [Skoglund, 1990:119]and Shasky, 1996:86]


Habitat:

Offshore in fairly shallow water [Kaicher, 1980:3610], to 54m [Shasky, 1996:86]


Etymology:

Named after the distinguished American conchologist Dr. Augustus Addison Gould.


Type Material:

Holotype: Trichotropis gouldi BM (NH) type lost?; Recluzia insignis: Holotype, ANSP 155432 [as Alora gouldi (A. Adams, 1857) and Recluzia insignis Pilsbry & H. N. Lowe, 1932] - Type Locality: Trichotropis gouldi: West Panama; Recluzia insignis: Panama. []
Type not located in the NHMUK by Keen (1969: 439). for Alora gouldii (A. Adams, 1857) - Type Locality: 'Chiriqui, Veragua' [Panama].. []
Holotype: ANSP 155432 [as Recluzia insignis Pilsbry & Lowe, 1932] - Type Locality: Montijo Bay, Panama.. []


SpeciesImage

Gittenberger, A. & Gittenberger, E.. (2012). pp: 150. Fig. 1.

1, Alora gouldii (A. Adams, 1857)
Panama, Vera Cruz (Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, no. 10606)
height 16.4 mm.

Distribution

as listed in source literature

Adams, A. (1856).
Shown in text as Trichotropis gouldii A. Adams, 1857
Species Image
pp: 369.
Original description
Keen, A. M. (1958).
Shown in text as Recluzia insignis Pilsbry & H. N. Lowe, 1932
Species Image
pp: 281. Plate 171.
DuShane, H. (1974).
Shown in text as Alora gouldi (A. Adams, 1857) and Recluzia insignis Pilsbry & H. N. Lowe, 1932
Species Image
pp: 34. Fig. 58.
Figure 58: Trichotropis gouldii A. Adams, 1857 [holotype, BM (NH) lost; specimen illustrated from Shy Collection]; length 14J mm; width gmm X 6.2
Species Image
pp: 34. Fig. 61.
Figure 61 : Recluzia insignis Pilsbry & Lowe, 1932. Holotype, ANSP 155432; length 15 mm X 2.4
Species Image
pp: 51.
Kaicher, S.D. (1980).
Species Image
Gittenberger, A. & Gittenberger, E.. (2012).
Species Image
pp: 150. Fig. 1.
1, Alora gouldii (A. Adams, 1857)
Panama, Vera Cruz (Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, no. 10606)
height 16.4 mm.
arsint.com (2023).
Species Image
Alora gouldii

Synonymy:

Alora gouldi (A. Adams, 1857) and Recluzia insignis Pilsbry & H. N. Lowe, 1932 [in DuShane, H., 1974].
Recluzia insignis Pilsbry & H. N. Lowe, 1932 [in Keen, A. M., 1958].
Recluzia insignis Pilsbry & Lowe, 1932 [in Brown, L. & Neville, B.D., 2015].
Scalaria gouldi Tapparone-Canefri, 1876: [in Brown, L. & Neville, B.D., 2015].
Trichotropis gouldii A. Adams, 1857 [in Adams, A., 1856].


Source Literature:

Adams, A. (1856). Notice of a New Species of TRICHOTROPIS from the collection of Hugh Cuming, Esq. By Artuur Adams,
arsint.com (2023). Shells for Sale:Epitonidae. arsint.com. http://www.arsint.com/seashells_epitoniidae_opalia.html [Accessed 21 October 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]
DuShane, H. (1974). The Panamic-Galapagan Epitoniidae. The Veliger. 16 (Sup. 14). https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42500298 [Accessed 25 September 2023]
DuShane, H. (1985). The family Epitoniidae of Panama Bay. The Festivus. 17(7). https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/196075 [Accessed 11 January 2026]
F.L.S., etc.. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1856. Zoological Society of London. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1856.tb00345.x [Accessed 8 August 2025]
Gittenberger, A. & Gittenberger, E.. (2012). Alora redefined. Basteria. 76. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259475316_Alora_redefined_Gastropoda_Caenogastropoda_Epitoniidae [Accessed 17 September 2023]
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]
Keen, A. M. (1958). Sea shells of tropical west America; marine mollusks from Lower California to Colombia. Stanford Univ. Press;
Shasky, D.R. (1996). Additional distributional records of interesting and rarely collected marine gastropods (Epitoniidae) from the tropical eastern Pacific. Festivus. 28(8). https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/195791 [Accessed 14 November 2025]
Skoglund, C (1990). https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/50508543Molluscan Range extensions to PLayas de Villamil, Guaymas, Ecuador. The Festivus. 22(11). https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/50508543 [Accessed 25 February 2026]
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