Dignamoconcha

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Dignamoconcha
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Heterobranchia
Superorder: Eupulmonata
Order: Stylommatophora
Family: Punctidae
Genus: Dignamoconcha
Iredale, 1944[1]
Location of Lord Howe Island

Dignamoconcha is a monotypic genus of pinhead or dot snails that is endemic to Australia's Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea.[2]

Species[edit]

Description[edit]

The trochoidal shell of the mature snail is 3.3 mm in height, with a diameter of 5.7 mm, with a stepped, pagoda-like spire. It is pale golden-brown in colour, with white radial streaks. The whorl profile is flattened above and below a strongly keeled periphery. It has a diamond-shaped aperture and widely open umbilicus. It is the largest known punctid in Australia.[2]

Distribution and habitat[edit]

Although the snail is sometimes reported from other sites on the island, its main area of occurrence is on the slopes of the southern mountains, at altitudes of 200–600 m in rainforest, where it is arboreal and found on the undersides of green leaves, especially those of palms.[2]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Iredale, Tom (1944). "The land Mollusca of Lord Howe Island". Australian Zoologist. 10 (3): 299–334.
  2. ^ a b c Hyman, Isabel; Köhler, Frank (2020). A Field Guide to the Land Snails of Lord Howe Island. Sydney: Australian Museum. ISBN 978-0-9750476-8-2.