Astralium rhodostomum

Astralium rhodostomum, common name the rosemouth star shell, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Turbinidae, the turban snails.^[2]

Astralium rhodostomum
A shell of Astralium rhodostomum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Vetigastropoda
Order:	Trochida
Superfamily:	Trochoidea
Family:	Turbinidae
Genus:	Astralium
Species:	A. rhodostomum
Binomial name
Astralium rhodostomum (Lamarck, 1822) [1]
Synonyms[2]
Astraea rhodostoma J. B. Lamarck, 1822 Astraea rhodostoma wallisii Kuroda, T. & T. Habe, 1952 Astraea tuberosum Astralium rhodostoma (Lamarck, 1822) Astralium tuberosum (Philippi) Distellifer queenslandicus Iredale, 1937 Distellifer wallisi Iredale, 1937 Trochus petrosus Martyn, T. in Kuroda, T., 1928 Trochus rhodostomus Lamarck, 1822 (basionym)

Description

The length of the shell varies between 16 mm and 55 mm. This thick-shelled species stands near to Lithopoma caelatum (Gmelin, 1791), but is distinguished by the following characters: the whorls are flat, not arched, in the middle. The superior nodules are situated near to the suture. They are hemi-spherical and solid. The body whorl has but a single row of nodules. The carina is sharper, the base flatter, with only three concentric nodose lirae. The aperture is lower and more rhomboidal. The color pattern is reddish brown, more or less verging on violet.^[3]

Distribution

This species occurs in the Indo-West Pacific and off East India, the Philippines and Australia (Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia).