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PULVINITIDAE |
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Pulvinites exempla (Hedley, 1914) Description: Shape irregular in outline, circular or ovate, margin often irregular and indented. Valves nearly flat, only slightly inflated. Byssal hole in right valve. Hinge line straight, with numerous ligamental blocks resulting in pits below and corresponding grooves above. Interior smooth, mid- to dark brown, surrounded by lighter coloured margin. Byssal retractor scar above and larger than adductor muscle scar. Exterior with irregular concentric growth ridges, margins thin and fragile. Periostracum brown, smooth, flaking. Shell colour silvery. Size: Up to 130 mm in length. Distribution: Australia and New Zealand. In Australia, known from four lots from southern NSW, three lots from Bass Strait, one lot from a seamount south of Tasmania and one lot from off North West Cape, WA. In New Zealand, from off South Island, Chatham and Campbell Islands, trawled around 170-500 metres, attached to rock. Habitat: Subtidal in 355-500 m depth. The largest lot was taken from 406 m attached to the wing of a sunken aeroplane which was recovered by a fishing trawler in 1981. Remarks: Tėmkin (2006) described the anatomy and shell morphology of the family based on the specimens from off Sydney. Fig. 1: East of Sydney, at 400 m depth (C.122000) |
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