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Phylum Mollusca > Class Gastropoda > Family Architectonicidae
Patridge sundial snail
Architectonica perdix
 Family Architectonicidae
updated Sep 2020
Where seen? Sometimes seen on sandy areas near seagrasses on some of our shores.

Features: 6-8cm in diameter. Shell thick and coils to fom a disc with a flat base. Shell pattern of spirals of brown bars on a paler background. Body and fat tentacles are plain (not striped). Operculum thin, flat and made of a horn-like material.

What does it eat? It is said to eat burrowing sea anemones and sea pens. The mouth region is lined with a tough cuticle as a protection against stings of their prey.

Dead specimen.
Terumbu Pempang Tengah, Apr 17

Underside.
Terumbu Pempang Tengah, Apr 17
Partridge sundial snails on Singapore shores
On wildsingapore flickr
Other sightings on Singapore shores

East Coast Park, Jul 20
Photo shared by Richard Kuah on facebook.

Terumbu Pempang Tengah, Apr 13
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on flickr.

Terumbu Pempang Tengah, Apr 13
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on flickr.

Photo shared by Toh Chay Hoon on facebook.
Chek Jawa, Mar 13
Links
  • Family Architectonicidae on The Gladys Archerd Shell Collection at Washington State University Tri-Cities Natural History Museum website: brief fact sheet with photos.
  • Architectonica perdix in SeaLife Base: Technical fact sheet.
References
  • Neo Mei Lin. 29 Sep 2017. Possible mating and spawning behaviour of partridge sundial snails. Singapore Biodiversity Records 2017: 121-122.
  • Tan Siong Kiat & Chan Sow-Yan. 31 Aug 2017. Recent sightings of two species of sundial shells at eastern Singapore. Singapore Biodiversity Records 2017: 116-118.
  • Tan Siong Kiat and Henrietta P. M. Woo, 2010 Preliminary Checklist of The Molluscs of Singapore (pdf), Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore.
  • Abbott, R. Tucker, 1991. Seashells of South East Asia. Graham Brash, Singapore. 145 pp.
  • Gosliner, Terrence M., David W. Behrens and Gary C. Williams. 1996. Coral Reef Animals of the Indo-Pacific: Animal life from Africa to Hawaii exclusive of the vertebrates Sea Challengers. 314pp.
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