Colus pygmaeus

Colus pygmaeus
Colus pygmaeus shell
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Neogastropoda
Superfamily:	Buccinoidea
Family:	Colidae
Genus:	Colus
Species:	C. pygmaeus
Binomial name
Colus pygmaeus (Gould, 1841)
Synonyms
Fusus islandicus var. pygmaeus Gould, 1841 (basionym) Fusus trumbulli Linsley, 1845 · Sipho pygmaeus (Gould, 1841) Sipho pygmaeus var. planulus Verrill, 1882 Siphonorbis pygmaeus (Gould, 1841)

Colus pygmaeus, common name the pygmy whelk, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Colidae, the true whelks and the like.

Description

The length of the shell attains 23.9 mm. The shell body is dextrally coiled (right-handed).

Distribution

This species occurs in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean. Colus pygmaeus is currently undergoing steep population declines, which has already led to, or if unchecked is likely to lead to, local extinction and/or range contraction.

References

• Abbott, R. T. (1974). American seashells. The marine Mollusca of the Atlantic and Pacific coast of North America. ed. 2. Van Nostrand, New York. 663 pp., 24 pls.
• Turgeon, D., Quinn, J. F., Bogan, A. E., Coan, E. V., Hochberg, F. G., Lyons, W. G., Mikkelsen, P. M., Neves, R. J., Roper, C. F. E., Rosenberg, G., Roth, B., Scheltema, A., Thompson, F. G., Vecchione, M., Williams, J. D. (1998). Common and scientific names of aquatic invertebrates from the United States and Canada: mollusks. 2nd ed. American Fisheries Society Special Publication, 26. American Fisheries Society: Bethesda, MD (USA). ISBN 1-888569-01-8. IX, 526 + cd-rom pp.
• Gosner, K. L. (1971). Guide to identification of marine and estuarine invertebrates: Cape Hatteras to the Bay of Fundy. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., London. 693 pp
• Linkletter, L. E. (1977). A checklist of marine fauna and flora of the Bay of Fundy. Huntsman Marine Laboratory, St. Andrews, N.B. 68: p

External links

• Gould, A. A. (1841). Report on the Invertebrata of Massachusetts, Comprising the Mollusca, Crustacea, Annelida, and Radiata. Published Agreeably to an Order of the Legislature, by the Commissioners on the Zoological and Botanical Survey of the State. Folsom, Wells, and Thurston, Cambridge, xiii + 373 pp., 15 pls.
• Linsley, J. H. 1845. Catalogue of the shells of Connecticut. The American Journal of Science and Arts 48: 271-286
• Verrill, A.E. (1882). Catalogue of marine Mollusca added to the fauna of the New England region, during the past ten years. Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences. 5(2): 447-587, pls 42-44, 57-58.
• Trott, T. J. (2004). Cobscook Bay inventory: a historical checklist of marine invertebrates spanning 162 years. Northeastern Naturalist. 11, 261-324.