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Taxon profile

species

Jupiteria pontonia (Dall, 1890)

kingdom Animalia - animals »  phylum Mollusca - mollusks »  class Bivalvia - bivalves »  order Nuculanida »  family Nuculanidae »  genus Jupiteria

Scientific synonyms

Saccella pontonia Dall, 1890
Nuculana pontonia W. H. Dall, 1890

Images

Jupiteria pontonia

Author: Dall, W.H.

Jupiteria pontonia

Author: Coan, E. et al.

Taxon in country check-lists*

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Description

Shell stout, strong, inflated, with a thin ochre-yellow or pale olive epidermis and recurved, pointed, posterior end; beaks approximate, full, incurved, not high, slightly anterior; anterior end evenly rounded, produced; posterior end vertically compressed, produced, recurved, pointed but not rostrate ; base evenly arcuate; radiating sculpture of occasional faint microscopic striations near the ends of the shell, usually absent, and a marked but not sharp-edged ridge in each valve, ex¬tending from the beak to the posterior point and bounding the posterior dorsal area in each valve; concentric sculpture of numerous fine regular continuous rounded threads, separated by narrower grooves; this sculpture, however, becomes suddenly obsolete on the cheeks of the valves and in front of the ridges above mentioned; the threads are stronger above and behind the ridges, but fade out in a central cordate area which, though not impressed, may be taken to represent the escutcheon ; there is no obvious lunule ; interior polished, muscular and pallial scars faint, the former small; pallial sinus shallow, small, and terminal; teeth V-shaped, anterior sixteen, posterior thirteen, all developed; fos¬sette internal, deep set, subtriangular, short; maximum longitude of shell 14.5; altitude 10; diameter 6.8; vertical of beaks behind the anterior end 6.25mm.
Dall, W.H. 1990. Scientific results of explorations by the U. S. Fish Commission Steamer “Albatross”. No. VII. Preliminary report on the collection of Mollusca and Brachiopoda obtained in 1887–88.
Shell thin, with pointed rostrum. Sculpture of fine rounded commarginal riblets,
becoming obsolete on central slope. Escutcheon very wide, deep. Periostracum light olive to brown, dull to silky. Length to 18 mm.
San Diego, California (32.7°N) [USNM], to the Golfo de Panama (6°N) [USNM] and the Islas Galapagos (0.6°S) [USNM], in 1,150 - 3,000 m.
The relationship of this species to Nuculana (Jupiteria) agapea (Dall, 1908), described from the Golfo de Panama, merits additional investigation.
Coan, E. et al., 2000. Bivalve Seashells of Western North America. Marine bivalve mollusks from Arctic Alaska to Baja California.

Interchangeable taxa

This is a remarkably plain, stout, and simple species, notable for its recurved tip, broad, flattened posterior dorsal area and arcuate base. It has somewhat the form of L. chuva Gray, but is proportionally longer and has a different sculpture.
Dall, W.H. 1990. Scientific results of explorations by the U. S. Fish Commission Steamer “Albatross”. No. VII. Preliminary report on the collection of Mollusca and Brachiopoda obtained in 1887–88.

Distribution

Near the Galapagos Islands, Pacific.
Author: Jan Delsing

Links and literature

EN Galli C.: WMSDB - Wolrdwide Mollusc Species Data Base July 10, 2013 [http://www.bagniliggia.it/WMSD/WMSDhome....] [as Nuculana pontonia Dall, 1890]
Data retrieved on: 23 November 2013

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