Maoritomella

Maoritomella
Three views of a shell of Maoritomella batjanensis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Order: Neogastropoda
Superfamily: Conoidea
Family: Borsoniidae
Genus: Maoritomella
Powell, 1942
Type species
Pleurotoma albula
Hutton, 1873
Synonyms

Narraweena Laseron, 1954

Maoritomella is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Borsoniidae.

Description

Shells of Maoritomella are tall-spired and have a truncated body-whorl, with a paucispiral protoconch, a globular of two smooth whorls, that is followed by a half whorl of brephic axials. The small shell seldom exceeds 10 mm (0.39 in) and has usually a fusiform-biconical shape. The axial riblets in the bluntly domed protoconch are absent or restricted to the terminal half-whorl. The sculpture consists of strong spiral lirae or cords with fine collabral threads crossing spiral lirae. It often contains a peripheral keel but never a conspicuous shoulder angle. The siphonal canal is not or feebly indented. There is an anal sinus on the shoulder slope. An operculum is present. The marginal teeth of the radula are rather short, straight and awl-like

Taxonomy

The genus was first described by A. W. B. Powell in 1942, due to the difficulty of placing Pleurotoma albula (now Maoritomella albula) in an appropriate genus.

Distribution

This marine genus occurs off Indonesia, South Africa, Zanzibar,[citation needed], New Caledonia, New Zealand and Australia (New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia).

Species

Species within the genus Maoritomella include:

Species brought into synonymy

References

  1. 1 2 3 Maoritomella A. W. B. Powell, 1942. Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 15 December 2025.
  2. ↑ Powell, A.W.B. (1979). New Zealand Mollusca: Marine, Land and Freshwater Shells. Auckland: Collins. p. 234. ISBN 0002169061.
  3. ↑ Powell, Arthur William Baden (1944). "The Australian Tertiary Mollusca of the Family Turridae". Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum. 3: 3–68. JSTOR 42905993. Wikidata Q58676624.
  4. ↑ R.N. Kilburn, Turridae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) of southern Africa and Mozambique. Part 3. Subfamily Borsoniinae; Annals of the Natal Museum, 1986
  5. ↑ Powell, Arthur William Baden (1942). "The New Zealand recent and fossil Mollusca of the family Turridae, with general notes on Turrid nomenclature and systematics". Bulletin of the Auckland Institute and Museum. 2: 24, 111. ISSN 0067-0456. OCLC 1826451. Wikidata Q115110377.
  6. ↑ "Maoritomella Powell, 1942". Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 15 December 2025.

Further reading