#struthiolariidae

[snailspotter]

Today’s snail: Struthiolaria papulosa | Ostrich Foot Snail

[drhoz]

#3815 - Struthiolaria calcar

There's at least 20 extinct species in the genus, and some other extinct and living ones now placed in other genera, but just one living species left, which I'll cover later since I found some later in the trip.

S. calcar was a small species, barely reaching 5cm, and lived on the shores of New Zealand during the Miocene. Others in the family lived around the shorelines of Gondwana, and have been found fossilised in New Zealand, Australia, Antarctica, and South America, but these days only remain in New Zealand and eastern Australia.

Struthiolariids bury themselves in sand or mud, inhaling and exhaling seawater through two mucus-lined siphonal tubes, and extract suspended particulate organic matter with their gills.

Museum of the Vanished World, Duntroon, Aotearoa New Zealand