Olivella biplicata

Olivella biplicata
Olivella biplicata
Olivella biplicata
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Caenogastropoda

clade Hypsogastropoda
clade Neogastropoda

Superfamily: Olivoidea
Family: Olivellidae
Genus: Olivella
Species: O. biplicata
Binomial name
Olivella biplicata
Sowerby, 1825

Olivella biplicata, common names the "purple dwarf olive" "purple olive shell" or "purple olivella" is a species of small predatory sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Olivellidae, the dwarf olives.

Contents

Distribution

Olivella biplicata snails are found in the Eastern Pacific Ocean coasts from British Columbia, Canada to Baja California, Mexico.[1]

Habitat

This species is common on sandy substrates intertidally and subtidally, in bays and the outer coast.[1]

Life habits

Three specimen of Olivella biplicata.

These snails are carnivorous or omnivorous sand-burrowers.

Shell description

This shell of this species is quite solid, and large for an Olivella, with adult shells ranging from 20 mm to 27 mm in length, about one inch. The shell is smooth, shiny, and is an elongated oval in shape. The shell is often a some shade of greyish purple, but it can also be whitish, tan, or dark brown. On the darker color forms there is often some rich yellow above the suture on the spire.

At the posterior end of the long narrow aperture there is a siphonal notch, from which the siphon of the living animal protrudes.

Pagurus in the shell of Olivella biplicata.

Human use

Native people of central and southern California used the shell of this species to make decorative beads for at least the last 9,000 years.[2] Such beads have been discovered in archaeological contexts as far inland as Idaho and Arizona.[3] Within the past 1,000 years these beads began to be manufactured in large quantities on southern California's Santa Barbara Channel Islands, indicating that they were used for shell money.[4] The historic Chumash people called them anchum.[5]

Notes

  1. ^ a b Dave Cowles. 2005. Olivella biplicata (Sowerby, 1825). accessed 22 November 2008.
  2. ^ Bennyhoff and Hughes 1987
  3. ^ Fitzgerald et al. 2005
  4. ^ Arnold and Graesch 2001
  5. ^ Daily Life in a Chumash village. last change 4 Ausgust 2005, accessed 22 November 2008.

References

  • Arnold, J.E. and A.P. Graesch. 2001. The Evolution of Specialized Shellworking Among the Island Chumash. In The Origins of a Pacific Coast Chiefdom: the Chumash of the Channel Islands, edited by J.E. Arnold, pp. 71-112. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.
  • Bennyhoff, James A. and Richard E. Hughes. 1987. Shell Bead and Ornament Exchange Networks between California and the Western Great Basin. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History 64:79-175.
  • Fitzgerald, Richard T., Terry L. Jones, and Adele Schroth. 2005. Ancient Long Distance Trade in Western North America: New AMS Radiocarbon Dates from Southern California. Journal of Archaeological Science 32:423-434.

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Olivella biplicata —   Olivella biplicata …   Wikipedia Español

  • Olivella (gastropod) — Olivella Olivella biplicata Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia …   Wikipedia

  • Olivellidae — Olivella biplicata Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia …   Wikipedia

  • Olividae — Olivenschnecken Olivella biplicata mit Schneepflug artigem Propodium Systematik Überordnung: Ca …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Olividae — Olivella biplica …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Olivenschnecken — Olivella biplicata mit Schneepflug artigem Propodium Systematik Überordnung: Caenogastropoda …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Chumash people — Chumash Chumash rock art Total population 2,000 …   Wikipedia

  • Shell money — Chinese shell money, 16 8th century BCE. Shell money is a medium of exchange that was once common. It consisted either of whole sea shells or pieces of them which were worked into beads or otherwise artificially shaped. The use of shells in trade …   Wikipedia

  • Chumash — Rafael, un Chumash, en Soxtonoxmu, Santa Ynez, a finales del siglo XIX. Población total 4.032 Idioma …   Wikipedia Español

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”