Pupa affinis facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Pupa affinis |
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A shell of Pupa affinis | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | |
Phylum: | |
Class: | |
(unranked): |
clade Heterobranchia
informal group Lower Heterobranchia |
Superfamily: |
Acteonoidea
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Family: |
Acteonidae
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Genus: |
Pupa
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Species: |
P. affinis
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Binomial name | |
Pupa affinis (A. Adams, 1855)
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Synonyms | |
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Pupa affinis is a small sea snail that lives in the ocean. It's a type of mollusc called a gastropod, which means it has a single shell and moves on a "foot." You can find these snails in the waters around the North Island of New Zealand. They belong to a family of snails called Acteonidae.
What Pupa affinis Looks Like
The shell of Pupa affinis is about 15 millimeters long. That's about the length of your fingernail! The shells are usually white, beige, or brown. Sometimes they have black marks on them.
The shell is shaped like an egg. It has a raised, pointed top part called a spire. Inside the shell, there's a central pillar called the columella. This pillar has a large double fold.
About Its Scientific Names
Sometimes, scientists give different names to the same animal. This can happen if they discover it in different places or at different times. When this happens, the older, correct name is kept, and the other names become "synonyms."
For Pupa affinis, some of its older names include:
- Pupa nivea
- Pupa strigosa
One of the older names for this snail, Buccinulus kirki, might have been named after Thomas William Kirk. He was a scientist who studied sea creatures in New Zealand. Or it could have been named after his father, Thomas Kirk, who was a curator at the Auckland Museum.