Liloa porcellana (A. A. Gould, 1859)

Location: Tate Beach, Amakusa, Kumamoto, Japan
Date: 2026/01/25
Length: 5mm
Depth: 5.0m
Water temperature: 16.0℃

Description

A semi-translucent white cylindrical haminoeid reaching about 12 mm in shell length. Shell small, thin and ovate-cylindrical, milky white, with widely-spaced transverse lines that become more distinct in older shells; vortex-shaped imperforate apex. Aperture narrow, anteriorly amplified, with a sub-truncate base; columella deeply arcuate, with strong callus and sub-perforate. Soft parts grey, marked with white and brown spots. Nocturnal: shelters in sand by day. Recorded from depths of about 8–29 m.

Distribution

Tropical Indo-Pacific, including Hawaii. The type locality is Kagoshima Bay, Japan.

Etymology

The specific epithet porcellana is the Italian/Latin for "porcelain" or "cowrie shell" (from porcellana, the Italian word for porcelain), in reference to the smooth, glossy, china-like texture of the shell.

Remarks

Originally described as Atys porcellana in Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History 7: 138–139 (1859), among the shells of the United States North Pacific Exploring Expedition. Subsequently transferred to Liloa Pilsbry, 1921 (Haminoeidae).