Alcyna kingensis
Endemic Bass Strait kelp-dwelling trochid snail, 5–7 mm.
Last updated
The marine gastropod mollusk Alcyna kingensis, belonging to the family Trochidae, is commonly referred to as the King Island kelp shell.[1] A globose-conical shell with complex spiral sculpture, measuring roughly 5–7 mm across, is characteristic of this Australian endemic.[1]
Scientific classification
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumMollusca
- ClassGastropoda
- SubclassVetigastropoda
- OrderTrochida
- FamilyTrochidae
- GenusAlcyna
- SpeciesAlcyna kingensis
Named by (Gabriel, 1956)
Close relatives
Other species of Alcyna with a Codexery entry.
- Alcyna subangulata Alcyna subangulata
Sources: Wikipedia taxobox: Alcyna kingensis (CC BY-SA 4.0) · order, family and genus agree with WoRMS AphiaID 720350 (CC BY 4.0)
Biology and range
The species occurs only in the Bass Strait region, especially around King Island and northern Tasmania.[1] It lives in shallow subtidal kelp beds at depths of 2–15 meters.[1] The World Register of Marine Species lists the authority as (Gabriel, 1956) and the family as Trochidae.[2] GBIF records 10 occurrence records for this taxon as of October 2026.[3]
A. kingensis feeds by grazing on microalgae and detritus, a behavior typical of trochid snails.[4] Petterd originally described this species in 1879, using specimens gathered from the eastern shore of King Island.[4]
What the specialist sources record
The WoRMS database accepts the species as Alcyna kingensis (Gabriel, 1956) in the order Trochida.[2] GBIF also accepts the species with the same authority and places it in the phylum Mollusca, class Gastropoda.[3] The GBIF occurrence count of 10 records provides a minimum estimate of known observations.[3]
References
- Wikipedia, "Alcyna kingensis" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Marshall, B. (2013). Alcyna kingensis (Gabriel, 1956). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails; Rosewater, "Australian Shells. Illustrating and Describing 600 Species of Marine Gastropods from Australian Waters.B. R. Wilson, K. Gillett", The Quarterly Review of Biology, March 1973, p. 42–43 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- World Register of Marine Species, Alcyna kingensis (AphiaID 720350). CC BY 4.0. marinespecies.org
- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and occurrence index, Alcyna kingensis (taxon key 4615226). CC BY 4.0 (backbone); counts are facts. gbif.org
- Wikipedia, "Alcyna kingensis" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Wilson, "Terrestrial gastropods of Faure Island, Shark Bay, Western Australia", Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement, 2008, p. 21; "MolluscaBase", www.molluscabase.org (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Alcyna kingensis (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
More in Marine Snails
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Alcyna kingensis (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Classification: the source article's taxobox; order, family and genus checked against WoRMS, the World Register of Marine Species (CC BY 4.0).
- Word definitions: the Codexery glossary, each quoted from its Wikipedia article.
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