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Taxonomy
Family: Subfamily:
TROCHIDAE: CANTHARIDINAE
Full Classification:
Mollusca (Phylum)
> Gastropoda (Class)
> Vetigastropoda (Subclass)
> Trochida (Order)
> Trochoidea (Superfamily)
> Trochidae (Family)
> Cantharidinae (Subfamily)
> Micrelenchus (Genus)
> purpureus (Species)
Genus Synonyms:
=Cantharidus (Mawhero) B.A. Marshall, 1998
=Mawhero B.A. Marshall, 1998
=Micrelenchus (Mawhero) B.A. Marshall, 1998
=Micrelenchus (Micrelenchus) Finlay, 1926
=Trochus (Gibbium) Gray, 1843 (invalid, junior homonym of Gibbium Scopoli, 1777)
Synonymised Names:
=Cantharidus (Mawhero) purpureus (Gmelin, 1791)
=Cantharidus purpureus (Gmelin, 1791)
=Helix purpurea Gmelin, 1791
=Micrelenchus (Mawhero) purpureus (Gmelin, 1791) accepted, alternate representation
=Phasianella rubella Menke, 1828
=Trochus elegans Gmelin, 1791
=Trochus pallidus Hombron & Jacquinot, 1848
=Trochus rostratus Gmelin, 1791
=Trochus texturatus Gould, 1849
=Trochus torosus Kiener, 1850
Images: Micrelenchus purpureus (Gmelin, 1791)
10 metres scuba off the Aldermen Islands, western Bay of Plenty. 25mm
A common grazer found on seaweed below low tide
Taxonomy
Family: Subfamily:
TROCHIDAE: CANTHARIDINAE
Full Classification:
Mollusca (Phylum)
> Gastropoda (Class)
> Vetigastropoda (Subclass)
> Trochida (Order)
> Trochoidea (Superfamily)
> Trochidae (Family)
> Cantharidinae (Subfamily)
> Micrelenchus (Genus)
> purpureus (Species)
Genus Synonyms:
=Cantharidus (Mawhero) B.A. Marshall, 1998
=Mawhero B.A. Marshall, 1998
=Micrelenchus (Mawhero) B.A. Marshall, 1998
=Micrelenchus (Micrelenchus) Finlay, 1926
=Trochus (Gibbium) Gray, 1843 (invalid, junior homonym of Gibbium Scopoli, 1777)
Synonymised Names:
=Cantharidus (Mawhero) purpureus (Gmelin, 1791)
=Cantharidus purpureus (Gmelin, 1791)
=Helix purpurea Gmelin, 1791
=Micrelenchus (Mawhero) purpureus (Gmelin, 1791) accepted, alternate representation
=Phasianella rubella Menke, 1828
=Trochus elegans Gmelin, 1791
=Trochus pallidus Hombron & Jacquinot, 1848
=Trochus rostratus Gmelin, 1791
=Trochus texturatus Gould, 1849
=Trochus torosus Kiener, 1850
Details: Micrelenchus purpureus (Gmelin, 1791)
Size/Grows to:
Height 35mm, Width 21mm
Distribution:
North and South Island. On seaweed at low tide to about 120 metres
Geographical Range:
AC
Notes:
Marine, Native - Endemic
Distribution Map
 
References and Publications
  • Donald, K.M., Spencer, H.G. 2016 Phylogeographic patterns in New Zealand and temperate Australian cantharidines (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Trochidae: Cantharidinae): Trans-Tasman divergences are ancient, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 100 (p.341)
  • Marshall, B.A. 1998 The New Zealand Recent species of Cantharidus Montfort, 1810 and Micrelenchus Finlay, 1926 (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Trochidae), Molluscan Research, 19 (p.114)
  • Powell, A.W.B. 1979 New Zealand Mollusca: Marine, Land and Freshwater Shells, Collins, Auckland (p.55)

*98 © Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (CC-BY-NC-ND)

Key to Geographical Ranges
NZ Map showing Geographical Ranges
The symbols K.A.C.F.M.An. are used to indicate the geographical range of the species. They have been adopted to give an approximation of the range of each species within New Zealand.
K=
Kermadec Islands
A=
Aupourian - Kaipara Harbour, north around North Cape, encompassing the Three Kings Islands and south to East Cape
C=
Cookian - Lower North Island and the northern part of the South Island
F=
Forsterian - Otago, Fiordland and Stewart Island
M=
Moriorian - Chatham Islands, Pitt Island
An=
Antipodean - Subantarctic Islands of New Zealand
Fw =
Freshwater
L =
Land
N =
North Island
S =
South Island
R =
Recent
Sf =
Subfossil
Fo =
Fossil
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