English: Length 1.3 cm; Originating from the Atlantic coast near Falcon, Western Sahara; Shell of own collection, therefore not geocoded.

There is only little information on this species. It was originally described in 1791 by Gmelin (Caroli a Linné, systema naturae. Tom. I. Pars VI. - p. 3694) as follows:
"Testa ovali plana tenui alba nitida, exterius lamellosa. Habitat rara ad rupes maritimas insulae Gorae, testa diametri 5 - 6 linearum." ( 1 linea (lat.) or 1 line (engl.) = 1/12 inch)
Some more information is given by L. W. Dillwyn in 1817 (A Descriptive Catalogue of Recent Shells, Arranged According to the Linnaean Method, 1817, p.1020):
"Shell oval, shallow, much depressed, wrinkled, with the spire obsolete, the summit recurved and lateral. Shell five to six lines long, and about four-fifths as broad, of a whitish colour, and is coarse, and transversely wrinkled like a common oyster-shell; the inside is white and glossy."
Both authors refer also to the works of Adanson (Histoire Naturel de Sénégal, 1757, p.41) and Friedhelm Heinrich Wilhelm Martini (Neues Systematisches Conchylien-Cabinet, 1. Band, 1769, S. 160, und Abb. 131, 132). But is it not sure, if their specimens are identical with Gmelin's and Dillwyn's. Wheras these mention a lamellose (Gmelin) shell, wrinkled like an oyster (Dillwyn), Adanson does not mention this character of the shell, but he describes it as "elle est fort mince, & cachée au dehors sous un périoste composé de plusieurs lames en recouvrement les unes sur les autres, qui la rendent assez rude au toucher", and Martin writes the same (a literal translation of Adanson's description): "Sie ist ungemein zart und von einer Oberhaut bedeckt, die aus vielen über einander liegenden Blättern besteht und eine rauhe Oberfläche bildet". Whereas Gmelin and Dillwyn mention a lamellose, "oyster-like" shell, Adanson and Martini mention only a lamellose periostracum, not a lamellose shell.
Concerning the lamellose, transversely wrinkled (oyster-like) surface, the size, and the whitish colour, the depicted specimen fits well to the descriptions of Gmelin and Dillwyn.

Variability:

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