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EATONIELLIDAE |
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Crassitoniella flammea (Frauenfeld, 1867) Description: Shell minute, solid, short-spired. Spire outline weakly convex. Protoconch of 1½ whorls. Teleoconch of 3¼ - 3? rounded whorls. No spiral or axial sculpture. Aperture oval, flared anteriorly; outer lip simple, sharp, straight in profile; inner lip separated from base anteriorly. Umbilicus closed. Shell semi-opaque to opaque, orange, often with irregular white axial bands or splashes. Size: Up to 2.1 mm in length. Distribution: Endemic to Australia; southern Queensland southwards to Victoria and southern Tasmania. Habitat: Lives on algae in the lower littoral and sub-littoral. Often abundant (Ponder &Yoo, 1977). Comparison: This is distinguished within the family by its heavy, blunt-spired shell and orange colour. Remarks: The last quarter whorl is often distinctively coloured; there is usually an axial white band, followed by an axial orange zone, followed by a colourless transparent zone up to the outer lip. The outer lip is thin and fragile, and usually broken away in beach washed specimens. Fig. 1, 2: Balmoral Beach, Middle Harbour, NSW (C.354756) |
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