Megastraea undosa

Megastraea undosa
Shell and operculum of Megastraea undosa (W. Wood, 1828), measuring 71.4 mm height by 89.9 mm diameter, collected at Salt Creek Beach, Laguna Niguel, in California.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
(unranked):	clade Vetigastropoda
Superfamily:	Trochoidea
Family:	Turbinidae
Subfamily:	Turbininae
Genus:	Megastraea
Species:	M. undosa
Binomial name
Megastraea undosa (W. Wood, 1828)
Synonyms
Lithopoma undosum (W. Wood, 1828) Astraea undosa (W. Wood, 1828) Trochus undosus W. Wood, 1828 (basionym)

An old empty shell of Megastraea undosa, wedged under a rock and covered in the pink coralline alga Lithothamnion, which has cemented it to the subtrate.

Megastraea undosa is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Turbinidae, the turban snails. This species is native to the coast of California.

Distribution

This species occurs in the eastern Pacific Ocean from California, USA to Central Baja California, Mexico

Description

The size of the shell of this species varies between 40 mm and 145 mm

External links

• Gastropods.com: Lithopoma undosum; retrieved: 9 November 2011
• Alf A. & Kreipl K. (2011) The family Turbinidae. Subfamilies Turbininae Rafinesque, 1815 and Prisogasterinae Hickman & McLean, 1990. In: G.T. Poppe & K. Groh (eds), A Conchological Iconography. Hackenheim: Conchbooks. pp. 1–82, pls 104-245.
• Williams, S.T. (2007). Origins and diversification of Indo-West Pacific marine fauna: evolutionary history and biogeography of turban shells (Gastropoda, Turbinidae). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 92, 573–592.