- Description
- Volutes are generally compact, sturdy, spindle shaped shells. Some are rare enough to
command high prices because of their varied shapes and colorful patterns. Columellar folds
are especially remarkable at the lower end of an elongated aperture. Most have both a
short, deep syphonal canal and a canal at the top of the aperture. The Collection has a
number of volutes exceeding 4 inches in size.
- There are about 200 species of volutes. All of them are carnivorous, feeding on small marine invertebrate animals. Most of them inhabit deep seas and are abundant in warm, temperate waters, expecially around the coasts of Australia.
- Classification
- Class: Gastropoda
- Clade: Neogastropoda
- Superfamily: Muricoidea
- Family: Volutidae
- Major Genera
- Genus: Alcithoe
- Genus: Amoria
- Genus: Ampulla
- Genus: Aulica
- Genus: Benthovoluta
- Genus: Calliotectum
- Genus: Cymbiola
- Genus: Cymbiolacca
- Genus: Cymbiolista
- Genus: Cymbium
- Genus: Fulgoraria
- Genus: Harpulina
- Genus: Livonia
- Genus: Lyria
- Genus: Melo
- Genus: Neptuneopsis
- Genus: Scaphella
- Genus: Surculina
- Genus: Teramachia
- Genus: Voluta
- Genus: Volutoconus
- Genus: Volutocorbis
- Genus: Volutomitra
Lyria kurodai (Kawamura, 1964)
Kuroda's Lyria
(a rare shell found in the south-
west sea of Taiwan; 8 cm.)
Amoria
undulata (Lamarck, 1804)
Wavy Volute
From Kent Group, Bass Strait,
Western Australia (in, Wilson, 1994)
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