Family COLUMBELLIDAE Swainson, 1840

Museums

Regional Maps

• Columbellidae Swainson, W. 1840. A treatise on malacology or the natural classification of shells and shell-fish. London : Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans 419 pp. [May 1840] [312].

  Type genus:

   Columbella Lamarck, 1799.

Excluded Taxa

Misidentifications

Columbellidae: Columbella decussata Sowerby, 1844 [this species is probably not Australian. The name is not recognised as Australian in the AM collection. Hedley ms noted "In British Museum 29 Sept 1912 ... Quite unlike Australian shell, probably foreign"] — Sowerby, G.B. (2nd) 1844. Monograph of the genus Columbella. 109-146, pls 36-40 in Thesaurus Conchyliorum or monographs of genera of shells. London : Sowerby Vol. 1. [134, pl.39, fig. 133]

Columbellidae: Columbella irrorata Reeve, 1859 [this is an Atlantic Ocean species, with the name used inappropriately for a Tasmanian shell. Hedley (1912, ms) said "In British Museum 30/9/[19]12, one marked "type irrorata Reeve is very like corniculata Lamk. from the Mediterranean. I doubt the Bass Strait habitat. Irrorata is vey close to blanda Sow. from the Persian Gulf. But Reeve figure is not like corniculata". Monsecour (2012) regards C. irrorata as a synonym of Rhombinella laevigata (Linnaeus, 1758) from the Atlantic] — Reeve, L.A. 1859. Monograph of the genus Columbella. pl. 1, 24-37 in Reeve, L.A. (ed). Conchologia Iconica. London : L. Reeve & Co. Vol. 11. [pl. 25, fig. 153]

Columbellidae: Columbella marmorata Gray, 1839 [this species was reported from South Australia by Tryon (1883), citing Angas as authority. No literature by Angas can be located that cites its occurrence in South Australia. The reference to Angas by Tryon may be referring to a specimen seen by Tryon collected by Angas. There is no mention of this species in subsequent Australian literature. The type locality of C. marmorata is Isle of Capul, Philippines, so it is unlikely to occur in South Australia.] — Gray, J.E. 1839. Molluscous Animals, and their shells. pp. 101-155, pls 33-44 in Beechey, F.W. (ed.). The Zoology of Captain Beechey's Voyage compiled from the collections and notes made by Captain Beechey, the officers and naturalist of the expedition, during a voyage to the Pacific and Behring's Straits performed in His Majesty's Ship Blossom under the command of Captain F. W. Beechey, R. N., F. R. S., &c. in the years 1825, 26, 27, and 28. London : H.G. Bohn. [120, pl. 36, fig. 11]

Columbellidae: Columbella mitrata Reeve, 1858 [this species was introduced in Reeve's Conchologica Iconica in 1858, citing the author as Menke, 1843, in Molluscorum Novae Hollandiae Specimen. However, it is not in that work, so the authorship becomes Reeve, 1858. Reeve gave the locality as "New Holland", but that also seems to be erroneous, as the species has not been recognised in Australia. K. Monsecour regards it as Anachis pygmaea (G.B. Sowerby I, 1832). (Reference: WoRMS (2012). Anachis pygmaea (G.B. Sowerby I, 1832). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=511425 on 2012-09-28)] — Reeve, L.A. 1858. Monograph of the genus Columbella. pls 2-23 in Reeve, L.A. (ed). Conchologia Iconica; or, Illustrations of the Shells of Molluscous Animals. London : L. Reeve & Co. Vol. 11 plates 1-5 + unpaginated captions. [pl. 16, sp. 84]

General References

Cotton, B.C. 1957. Australian Recent and Tertiary Species of the Molluscan Family Pyrenidae. Adelaide : Privately published.

deMaintenon, M.J. 1999. Phylogenetic analysis of the Columbellidae (Mollusca: Neogastropoda) and the evolution of herbivory from carnivory. Invertebrate Biology 118: 258-288

Wilson, B. 1994. Australian marine shells. Prosobranch gastropods. Kallaroo, WA : Odyssey Publishing Vol. 2 370 pp.

History of changes