Wentletrap
Family Epitoniidae
updated
Aug 2020
Where seen? A tiny one was seen among a bloom of seaweeds
on a sandy shore in Seletar. 'Wentletrap' is the Dutch word for 'spiral
staircase'. The elegant shell does indeed resemble one!
Features: A distinctive shell
with a long turret and strong sharp ribs across all of the whorls.
Shells generally white with a porcelain-like texture. A circular shell
opening with a shelly operculum, usually black. Eggs are laid in sand-covered
strings resembling a necklace.
What do they eat? Though the circular
shell opening suggest the snails are herbivourous, there are suggestions
that those with purple body and purple stains on the shell may be
carnivorous. Some may produce a purple dye. Some of them are believed to eat sea anemones that live in
sand. |
Seletar, Feb 12 |
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| Wentletrap
snails on Singapore shores |
Family
Epitoniidae recorded for Singapore
from
Tan Siong Kiat and Henrietta P. M. Woo, 2010 Preliminary Checklist
of The Molluscs of Singapore.
^from WORMS
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Acrilla
acuminata
Acrilla minor
Amaea magnifica
Amaea ogaitoi
Amaea xenicima
Cirsotrema bavayi=^Cirsotrema varicosum
Cirsotrema cloveri
Cirsotrema multiperforata=^Cirsotrema varicosum
Cycloscala hyalina
Eglisia tricarinata
Epitonium bulbulum
Epitonium clementinum
Epitonium hayashii
Epitonium inexpertum
Epitonium lamellosum=^Gyroscala lamellosa
Epitonium lineolatum
Epitonium pallasi neglectum
Epitonium replicatum
Epitonium sexcostum
Epitonium tomlini
Filiscala martinii |
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| Links
References
- Tan Siong
Kiat and Henrietta P. M. Woo, 2010 Preliminary
Checklist of The Molluscs of Singapore (pdf), Raffles
Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore.
- Abbott, R.
Tucker, 1991. Seashells
of South East Asia.
Graham Brash, Singapore. 145 pp.
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