Xenophora
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Xenophora, common name carrier shells, is a genus of medium sized to large sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Xenophoridae, the carrier snails or carrier shells.
The genus name is from the ancient Greek, and means "bearing foreigners". This is reference to the fact that most species of Xenophora cement other shells or small pebbles onto the rim of their shell at regular intervals. Xenophora is sometimes humorously referred to as a shell-collecting shell.
[edit] Species within the genus Xenophora
- Xenophora caribaea Petit de la Saussaye, 1857 - Caribbean carriersnail
- Xenophora chinensis Philippi, 1841)
- Xenophora conchyliophora (Born, 1780) - American carriersnail
- Xenophora longleyi Bartsch, 1931 - shingled carriersnail
- Xenophora solarioides (Reeve, 1845)
- Xenophora neozelanica Suter, 1908 - New Zealand carriershell
[edit] References
- Powell A. W. B., New Zealand Mollusca, William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 ISBN 0-00-216906-1
