Bankivia fasciata (Menke 1830)

Bankivia fasciata, common name the banded kelp shell, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Trochidae, the top snails.^[1][2]

Description

The length of the shell varies between 15 mm and 25 mm. The thin, imperforate, elongated shell has a turreted shape. This is a variable species in size and coloration. It is polished and shining, white, creamy or pink, with spiral bands of pink, purplish-red or purplish-brown, or narrow oblique zigzag stripes of pinkish-brown, usually with a narrow subsutural fascia of dark or pinkish. The spire is elevated and slender. The dark apex is a little blunt. The about 9 whorls are, very slightly convex, and a trifle impressed below the sutures. The surface (under a lens) is very densely, finely spirally striate. The body whorl is rounded. The base of the shell shows a few concentric, separated, impressed lines. The aperture is ovate. The thin outer lipis acute. The sinuous columella is arcuate above and narrowly reflexed, obliquely truncate below.^[3]

Distribution

This marine species occurs in the Gulf of Aqaba, off Mozambique and off New South Wales to South Australia, and off Tasmania

References

• Pritchard, G.B. & Gatliff, J.H., 1902. Catalogue of the Marine Shells of Victoria. Part V. Proc. R. Soc. Vict.n.s., 14(2):85-138
• Shirley, J., 1911. Additions to the Marine Mollusca of Queensland. Proc. R. Soc. Qld, XXIII(1):96-96
• Cotton, B.C. (1959). South Australian Mollusca. Archaeogastropoda. Adelaide : Govt. Printer.
• Iredale, T. & McMichael, D.F., 1962 [31/Dec/1962]. A reference list of the marine Mollusca of New South Wales. Mem. Aust. Mus., 11:0-0
• Macpherson, J.H. & Gabriel, C.J., 1962. Marine Mollusca of Victoria. Melbourne Univ. Press, Melbourne. 475
• Barash, A., Danin, Z. & Yaron, I. (1980). Bankivia fasciata (Menke, 1830) in the Gulf of Aquaba . Bolletino Malacologico. 16 (1-2)
• Wilson, B., 1993. Australian Marine Shells. Prosobranch Gastropods. Odyssey Publishing, Kallaroo, WA