Drupa morum, commonly named purple drupe or makaloa in Hawaiian, is a species of sea snails, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails.
Subspecies
Drupa morum iodostoma (Lesson, 1840) (synonym : Purpura (Ricinula) iodostoma Lesson, 1840 ) (species inquirenda) Drupa morum morum Röding, 1798 (synonyms : Canrena neritoidea Link, 1807; Drupa horrida (Lamarck, 1816), Drupa morum Röding, 1798, Drupa (Drupa) morum morum Röding, 1798; Drupa violacea (Schumacher, 1817); Ricinella violacea Schumacher, 1817; Ricinula globosa Mörch, 1852; Ricinula horrida Lamarck, 1816)
Description Drupa morum has a thick, globose shell that can reach 5cm with a low spire, large body whorl and flat base that covers the surface of the body as it grows. The shell has a columella with three strong, plicate ridges. The outside layer is white with dark brown nodules, while in the inside appears a dark violet. The aperture is narrow and has conspicuous group of denticles. They are often covered with coralline algae.
Distribution Drupa morum lives in the subtropical and tropical Indo-Pacific, including the following locations:
Madagascar Chinese taipei Hong kong India Indonesia Japan Philippines Clipperton I. Australia Easter I. French Polynesia Guam Hawaii New Caledonia North Marianas Pitcairn Tanzania
Habitat Drupa morum inhabits rocky shores and can be found in crevices among the lower eulittoral. It is abundant from shallow waters up to 30 feet deep, typically lives at a sea temperatures of 25-30 degrees Celsius and where the salinity is 30-35 PSU.
Diet Drupa morum feeds on Eunicid polychaetes and limestone-boring invertebrates in addition to many crustaceans, fishes, sipunculids, and vermetids.
References
Spry, J.F. (1961). The sea shells of Dar es Salaam: Gastropods. Tanganyika Notes and Records 56 Dautzenberg, Ph. (1929). Mollusques testaces marins de Madagascar. Faune des Colonies Francaises, Tome III Houart R., Kilburn R.N. & Marais A.P. (2010) Muricidae. pp. 176–270, in: Marais A.P. & Seccombe A.D. (eds), Identification guide to the seashells of South Africa. Volume 1. Groenkloof: Centre for Molluscan Studies. 376 pp. Claremont M., Reid D.G. & Williams S.T. (2012) Speciation and dietary specialization in Drupa, a genus of predatory marine snails (Gastropoda: Muricidae). Zoologica Scripta 41: 137–149.
External links