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4616-1.jpg (155896 bytes)

 

4617-1.jpg (80501 bytes)

Coccopigya barbatula Marshall, 1986

Description: Shell light in weight, apex at posterior quarter. Protoconch sculptured with fine, crisp reticulate threads. Teleoconch with anterior slope convex, posterior slope concave or straight. External sculpture of low, rounded, radial ribs bearing minute pits; concentric sculpture of growth lines. Shell colour white. Periostracum thin, pale buff, concentrically lamellate, with short spines on the radial ribs.

Size: Up to 7 mm in length.

Distribution: Known only from four lots from central NSW; off South Head, Sydney, southwards to off Brush Island, NSW. The geographic range is no doubt wider.

Habitat: Lives on waterlogged wood. The known samples were dredged from 384-457 m. Rare in collections, abundance in habitat unknown.

Remarks: In this genus the radial ribs bear periostracal spines, which in this species are very thin and short, only visible at 30x magnification. As the periostracum is usually lost or worn they are difficult to observe.

Figs. 1,2: Off Wollongong, NSW, 439 m (C.124615, PARATYPE)

 

Copyright Des Beechey 2008