Julia (gastropod)

Julia
Julia exquisita
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Heterobranchia
Family: Juliidae
Genus: Julia
Gould, 1862
Species

See text.

Synonyms

Prasina Deshayes, 1863

Julia is a genus of minute sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks or micromollusks in the superfamily Oxynooidea.

Julia is the type genus of the family Juliidae.

Description

Drawing of the shell (the exterior of the right valve) of taxon named Julia borbonica
Drawing of the interior of the left valve of the shell of "Julia borbonica".
Drawing of the interior of the right valve of the shell of "Julia borbonica".

As Tryon (1884) wrote in his description of the genus Julia: the shell is oblong, thick, and cordiform. The valves are closed, the margins entire and the valves are inequilateral. The lunule is deep circular, projecting into the interior of the right valve, the left valve is in the same place furnished with dentiform tubercles. The hinge line is simple and arched. The ligament is external and narrow. There are two muscle scars which are unequal and subcentral.

These animals have two valves, and the soft parts can be completely withdrawn inside the shell. The two valves are usually thin and translucent.

The empty valves of the shells of these animals are in some cases green, in other cases brownish-green or yellow, and in yet others, colorless. The species Julia zebra has shells that are finely striped with brown and blotched with white.

Species