COLUMBELLIDAE
dove shells

  Zafra selasphora
(Melvill and Standen, 1901)

Relevant Synonyms
-

Misidentification
Anachis savignyi (Moazzo, 1939) [Engl, 1995]
Anachis troglodytes (Souverbie in Souverbie and Montrouzier, 1866) [Palazzi, 1993]

 photo: S. Gofas / Coll. B. Galil    

SHORT DESCRIPTION
Shell small, fusiform, with 6-7 whorls. Protoconch with three smooth whorls. Teleoconch with strong, smooth, slightly flexuous axial ribs, fainting on basal part of body whorl and replaced there by flat, crowded spiral threads. Aperture elongated, with outer lip thickened inside, abapically with a sinus and with the remainder bearing 4-5 denticles on a ridge. Columella straight with a series of tiny knobs aligned on a ridge. Siphonal canal quite deeply incised.

color : pale tan with a darker spiral band along the whorls, another band around basal part of body whorl with a few flames spurring down towards the canal. Ribs whitish.

common size : 3.5 x 1.6 mm.

DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS
See Zafra savignyi.

BIOLOGY / ECOLOGY
Unknown.

habitat : unknown.


1st Mediterranean record
Haifa Bay, Israel, 1997 [1980].


DISTRIBUTION
Worldwide: original distribution in the Indian Ocean and Red Sea, although not accurately documented due to taxonomic uncertainties. Mediterranean: recorded first from Israel in 1980 (van Aartsen, 1997); successively from south Turkey, as Anachis troglodytes (van Aartsen, 1997); Cyprus (Buzzurro and Greppi, 1997).

ESTABLISHMENT SUCCESS
Locally quite common in southern Turkey and Israel.

speculated reasons for success :
-


MODE OF INTRODUCTION
Possibly via the Suez Canal.


IMPORTANCE TO HUMANS
None.


KEY REFERENCES

  • Buzzurro G. and Greppi E., 1997. Notes on the molluscs of Cyprus, with special attention to the allochthonous species. La Conchiglia, 283: 21-31 and 61-62.
  • Tringali L. and Villa R., 1995. On the identity of the Lessepsian species of the genus Anachis H. & A. Adams, 1853, subgenus Zafra A. Adams, 1860 found in the Levant Sea. La Conchiglia, 274: 15-19.
  • Palazzi S., 1993. Ci sono due Zafra in Mediterraneo, ma come si chiamano? Notiziario del CISMA, 14: 13-18.

 

  • van Aartsen J.J., 1997. Anachis in the Mediterranean: a note on distribution. La Conchiglia, 282: 29.

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Last update : January 2005

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