Oliva incrassata, the angled olive or giant olive, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Olividae, the olives.[2]

Oliva incrassata
Five views of a shell of Oliva incrassata
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Order: Neogastropoda
Family: Olividae
Genus: Oliva
Species:
O. incrassata
Binomial name
Oliva incrassata
Synonyms[2]

Oliva burchorum Zeigler, 1969
Oliva nivea Pilsbry, 1910

Distribution

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This species is widespread from California to Peru.[3]

Habitat

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These sea snails live at the low-tide level, at the outer side of sandspits.[4]

 
Shells of Oliva incrassata from Panama, on display at the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano

Description

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Shells of Oliva incrassata can reach a length of 32–95 millimetres (1.3–3.7 in).[3] These relatively large shells are almost cylindrical, very thick, ovate, angularly swollen in the middle, with a rather short spire, a narrow and long aperture and usually with uniformly colored body whorls, except in the colummellar area. The basic color background may vary from ash-white or greyish to light yellow and brown, mottled with gray and olive, with angled transverse dark chestnut streaks and a fleshy rosy pink columellar area.[4][5]

Biology

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The Giant Olives are active predators. At night they search for food, while during the day they bury themselves beneath the sand and mud.

References

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  1. ^ Sowerby G. B. [first of the name (1825). A catalogue of the shells contained in the collection of the late Earl of Tankerville. London, privately published : VII + 92 + XXXIV pp.]. World Register of Marine Species, Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  2. ^ a b Oliva incrassata (Lightfoot in Solander, 1786). Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 28 April 2010.
  3. ^ a b "Oliva (Strephona) incrassata". Gastropods.com. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  4. ^ a b Angeline Myra Keen (1971). Sea Shells of Tropical West America: Marine Mollusks from Baja California to Peru. Stanford University Press. p. 622. ISBN 978-0-8047-0736-7.
  5. ^ Maurizio A. Perrini The Oliva
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Bibliography

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  • Sowerby G. B. [first of the name] (1825). A catalogue of the shells contained in the collection of the late Earl of Tankerville. London, privately published : VII + 92 + XXXIV pp.
  • Tursch B., Duchamps R. & Greifeneder D. - Studies on Olividae, XX. The pre-Lamarckian names for Oliva species. APEX 9 (2/3) 51–78, July, 1994
  • Zeigler R.F. & Porreca H.C. - Olive Shells of the World. Rochester Polychrome Press, N.Y. 1969.