Nassa

Sertum rock shell Nassa serta, copyright Jan Delsing.

Belongs within: Rapaninae.

Nassa is a genus of marine gastropods found in the tropical Indo-Pacific, living under stones and coral in intertidal and shallow sublittoral waters. The western Pacific N. serta bears strongly beaded spiral ribs on the shell (Wilson & Gillett 1971).

Characters (from Wilson & Gillett 1971): Ovate, spire moderately high. Whorls rounded. Anterior canal broad, posterior canal not notched into lip but formed behind large opposing denticles on parietal wall and outer lip.

<==Nassa Röding 1798 [incl. Iopas Adams & Adams 1853] RD75
    |--N. serta (Bruguière 1789) WG71 (see below for synonymy)
    |--N. ambigua C64
    |--N. antillarum G79
    |--N. collaria C64
    |--N. complanata [incl. N. scabriuscula, N. wilsoni] C64
    |--N. corniculum D56
    |--N. corpulenta C64
    |--N. elegans Sowerby 1824 M79b
    |--N. fossata M79b (see below for synonymy)
    |--N. francoindica Martin 1919 [=N. ovum Cossmann 1902 (preoc.)] F27
    |--N. francolina (Bruguière 1789) WG71
    |--N. gemmulata F66
    |--N. gibberula PP64
    |--N. incisa [=Clathurella incisa; incl. C. cingulata] H86a
    |--N. incrassata [=Buccinum incrassatum; incl. B. ascanias, B. coccinella, B. macula] J64
    |--N. insculpta Carpenter 1864 C64
    |--N. intermedia [=Alectrion suturalis dunkeri Suter 1908] F26
    |--N. jhoni BBB-S95
    |--N. lunata C64
    |--N. luteostoma H15
    |--N. marginulata [incl. N. australis Adams 1853, N. marginulata var. hepatica] H08
    |--N. mendica [=N. (Tritia) mendica; incl. N. gibbesii, N. interstriata Conrad 1855, N. woodwardi Fbs. 1850] C64
    |--N. moreleti Crosse 1868 M79b
    |--N. nodocincta C64
    |--N. obsoleta D56
    |--N. olivacea F66
    |--N. pagodus [incl. N. acuta, N. canescens, N. decussata] C64
    |--N. panamensis [incl. N. exilis] C64
    |--N. pedroana Conrad 1855 C64
    |--N. perpinguis C64
    |--N. pygmaea PP64
    |--N. reticulata (Linnaeus 1758) CS77, L58 [=Buccinum reticulatum J64]
    |--N. scabriuscula C64
    |--N. stimpsoniana C64
    |--N. taenia F66
    |--N. tatei Tenison-Woods 1878 F71 [incl. N. socialis H86b]
    |--N. tegula C64
    |--N. thersites F66
    |--N. trifasciata [incl. N. rutilans, N. unicolora, N. unicolorata] M79a
    |--N. trivittata C64
    `--N. versicolor [incl. N. crebristriata, N. proxima, N. striata] C64

Nassa fossata M79b [=Buccinum fossatum C64, Tritia fossata M79b; incl. Buccinum elegans Rve. 1842 C64, Nassa elegans non Sowerby 1824 C64, Taphon elegans M79b]

Nassa serta (Bruguière 1789) WG71 [=Buccinum sertum RD75, *Iopas sertum RD75, Purpura sertum RD75; incl. *Nassa picta Röding 1798 RD75]

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[BBB-S95] Boubezari, K., G. Bitar & D. Bellan-Santini. 1995. Structure et organisation de trois moulières (Mytilus galloprovincialis et Perna perna) de la région d’Alger. Mésogée 54: 63–72.

[C64] Carpenter, P. P. 1864. Supplementary report on the present state of our knowledge with regard to the Mollusca of the west coast of North America. Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science 33: 517–686.

[CS77] Cramp, S., & K. E. L. Simmons (eds) 1977. Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa: The Birds of the Western Palaearctic vol. 1. Ostrich to Ducks. Oxford University Press: Oxford.

[D56] Dawes, B. 1956. The Trematoda with special reference to British and other European forms. University Press: Cambridge.

[F26] Finlay, H. J. 1926. A further commentary on New Zealand molluscan systematics. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 57: 320–485.

[F27] Finlay, H. J. 1927. New specific names for austral Mollusca. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 57: 488–533.

[F71] Fletcher, H. O. 1971. Catalogue of type specimens of fossils in the Australian Museum, Sydney. Australian Museum Memoir 13: 1–167.

[F66] Fraser, L. 1866. Communication of a list of mollusks collected by R. Swinhoe, Esq., in Formosa. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 146.

[G79] Guppy, R. J. L. 1879. First sketch of a marine invertebrate fauna of the Gulf of Paria and its neighbourhood. Part I.—Mollusca. Journal of Conchology 2: 151–172.

[H08] Hedley, C. 1908. Studies on Australian Mollusca. Part X. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 33: 456–489, pls 7–10.

[H15] Hedley, C. 1915. Presidential address. Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 49 (1): 1–77, pls 1–7.

[H86a] Hutton, F. W. 1886a. The Mollusca of the Pareora and Oamaru systems of New Zealand. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, series 2, 1 (1): 205–237.

[H86b] Hutton, F. W. 1886b. Notes on some Australian Tertiary fossils. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, series 2, 1 (2): 481–482.

[J64] Jeffreys, J. G. 1864. The Upper Tertiary fossils at Uddevalla, in Sweden. Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science 33 (Notices and Abstracts): 73–79.

[L58] Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentii Salvii: Holmiae.

[M79a] Marrat, F. P. 1879a. Nassa trifasciata, Gmelin. Journal of Conchology 2: 78.

[M79b] Marrat, F. P. 1879b. Note on Nassa elegans, Sow. Journal of Conchology 2: 78–79.

[PP64] Peres, J. M., & J. Picard. 1964. Nouveau manuel de bionomie benthique de la mer Mediterranee. Recueil des Travaux de la Station Marine d'Endoume, Bulletin 31 (27): 5–137.

[RD75] Radwin, G. E., & A. D’Attilio. 1975. A catalogue of muricacean generic taxa. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History 17 (20): 279–292.

[WG71] Wilson, B. R., & K. Gillett. 1971. Australian Shells: illustrating and describing 600 species of marine gastropods found in Australian waters. A. H. & A. W. Reed: Sydney.

Last updated: 18 December 2021.