Difference between Whelk & Nassarius?
- Thread starter falconut
- Start date
kmk2307
Active member
The name "whelk" is usually applied to an entire family of snails (Family Buccinoidea). Nassarius snails are in their own family, Nassariidae. Some workers place Nassariidae withing Buccinoidea as a subfamily. Others have the 2 families at the same hierarchial level... The taxonomy is still a mess. Somebody will get around to sequencing genomes and then we'll know.
See this link:
http://seashellsofnsw.org.au/Buccininae/Pages/Buccinidae_intro.htm
"There is no consensus on the extent of the family Buccinidae. Some authors regard the family as including the subfamilies Buccininae, Pisaniinae, Fasciolariinae and Nassariinae. Each of these has traditionally been treated as a seperate family, but Ponder & Warén (1988) reduce them to subfamilies "because there are virtually no known characters that consistently and reliably separate them at family level". In this work, the more traditional approach is adopted of leaving Buccininae and Pisaniinae as subfamilies in the Buccinidae, with Fasciolariidae and Nassariidae as separate families."
HTH,
Kevin
See this link:
http://seashellsofnsw.org.au/Buccininae/Pages/Buccinidae_intro.htm
"There is no consensus on the extent of the family Buccinidae. Some authors regard the family as including the subfamilies Buccininae, Pisaniinae, Fasciolariinae and Nassariinae. Each of these has traditionally been treated as a seperate family, but Ponder & Warén (1988) reduce them to subfamilies "because there are virtually no known characters that consistently and reliably separate them at family level". In this work, the more traditional approach is adopted of leaving Buccininae and Pisaniinae as subfamilies in the Buccinidae, with Fasciolariidae and Nassariidae as separate families."
HTH,
Kevin
kmk2307
Active member
Doh! I read your question wrong...
Nassarius obseleta (= Illynassa obsoleta) has a black shell and the outer material of the shell which gives it its black color is often chipping off in places. This is a good picture of Ilynassa obsoleta (not mine):
http://www.gastropods.com/Shell_Images/Cypr-K/Ilyanassa_obsoleta.jpg
Try searching google for whelk pictures and more pics of Ilynassa obsoleta to get a feel for what they look like.
HTH,
Kevin
Nassarius obseleta (= Illynassa obsoleta) has a black shell and the outer material of the shell which gives it its black color is often chipping off in places. This is a good picture of Ilynassa obsoleta (not mine):
http://www.gastropods.com/Shell_Images/Cypr-K/Ilyanassa_obsoleta.jpg
Try searching google for whelk pictures and more pics of Ilynassa obsoleta to get a feel for what they look like.
HTH,
Kevin
LittlePuff
New member
Eeek! I thought those were ceriths.
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