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SOLECURTIDAE |
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Solecurtus sp. Description: Shape elongate, length more than twice height; umbo small, low, situated in front of midline; both ends gaping; anterior and posterior ends rounded, ventral margin straight centrally. Exterior with widely spaced forward pointing oblique grooves, absent on anterior end, changing direction to radial on posterior end where ridges between grooves are much narrower. Interior with muscle scars well defined; pallial sinus well defined, very long, reaching forward three-quarters of shell length. Hinge of right valve with 2 cardinal teeth, 1 a long, curved prong, the other a flattened plate; left valve with 1 strong tooth. Ligament external, attached to low nymph. Shell colour pink with two white rays emanating from umbo. Periostracum usually absent, sometimes persisting on ventral margin. Size: Up to 60 mm in length. Distribution: Apparently endemic to eastern Australia, from Port Clinton (north of Yeppoon) in central Queensland southwards to Trial Bay in central NSW. Uncommon. Habitat: Buries deeply in clean sand from the low intertidal to 36 m. Synonymy: This species appears unnamed. Australian authors have called it Solecurtus australis given the type locality is Moreton Bay, Qld, but Huber (2010) has argued that assumption is incorrect and that S. australis is actually a larger tropical western Indian Ocean species with a distribution ranging from the northern Red Sea, into the Persian Gulf, and south to Kenya and Mozambique. Fig. 1: Keppel Bay, Qld (C.303227) |
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