Natica

Natica
Temporal range: Eocene - Recent
Several views of a shell of Natica arachnoidea
A shell of Natica limbata
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Order: Littorinimorpha
Family: Naticidae
Subfamily: Naticinae
Genus: Natica
Scopoli, 1777
Type species
Natica vitellus vitellus Linnaeus, 1758
Synonyms
  • Glyphepithema Rehder, 1943
  • Lunaia S. S. Berry, 1964
  • Nacca Risso, 1826
  • Natica (Mamilla) Fabricius, 1823
  • Natica (Nacca) Risso, 1826
  • Natica (Natica) Scopoli, 1777 accepted, alternate representation

Natica is a genus of small to medium-sized predatory sea snails, marine gastropods in the subfamily Naticinae of the family Naticidae, the moon snails. The genus was erected by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in 1777.

The genus is known from the Eocene to the Recent periods (age range: 37.2 to 0.012 million years ago).

Description

The shell is subglobose or obovate, rarely somewhat depressed. The spire is short. The body whorl is enlarged. The aperture is entire, semicircular, with an oblique, edentate, callous columellar side. The prominent umbilicus is deep, often wide, well separated between the contracted columellar margin and the spiral, often thickened base of the columella. A small pit near the callosity is almost distinct.

The peristome is sharp, smooth on the interior. The large operculum is calcareous, fully attached to the surface, sometimes sculpted with ridges, sometimes flattened, with the spiral located anteriorly and internally.

The rounded, solid shell varies from small to large and has a low spire. The surface is smooth or bears radial ribs at the sutures. The aperture is wide and semi-ovate. The umbilicus is deep, posteriorly open or partially covered by the parietal callus.The funicle is weakly to strongly developed, entering the umbilicus either perpendicularly or obliquely. The parietal callus is prominent, occasionally confluent with the funicle.

The Operculum is calcareous, smooth, and bearing one to three marginal ribs. The columellas edge is smooth or serrate.

Species

The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) includes the following species with accepted names in the genus Natica

Taxon inquirendum

Synonyms

List of synonyms of the genus Natica
50 second video of snails (most likely Natica chemnitzi and Cerithium stercusmuscaram) feeding on the sea floor in the Gulf of California, Puerto Peñasco, Mexico

References

  1. 1 2 Gofas, S. (2011). Natica Scopoli, 1777. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=138240 on 14 April 2011
  2. ↑ (in Czech) Pek I., Vašíček Z., Roček Z., Hajn. V. & Mikuláš R.: Základy zoopaleontologie. - Olomouc, 1996. 264 pp., ISBN 80-7067-599-3
  3. ↑ Fossilworks
  4. ↑ Guilding, L. (1834). "Observations on Naticina and Dentalium, two genera of molluscous animals". Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. 17 (1): 29. Retrieved 9 January 2025. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  5. ↑ Cernohorsky, W.O. (1971). "The Family Naticidae (Mollusca, Gastropoda) in the Fiji islands". Records of the Auckland Museum. 6: 173. Retrieved 15 June 2026. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is under a CC BY 4.0 license.
  6. ↑ WoRMS: Natica
  7. ↑ Cenozoic Ampullinidae and Naticidae (Mollusca, Gastropoda) from Patagonia, Argentina; Miguel Griffin & Guido Pastorino: Cenozoic Ampullinidae and Naticidae (Mollusca, Gastropoda) from Patagonia, Argentina; 2013 Journal of Paleontology 87(3):502-525