Galapagos Species Database
The Galapagos Species Database shares the information about the species from our Natural History Collections.
Vasula melones
Muricido manzana, Apple rocksnail
(T. melones) Length: 48 mm; diameter: 34 mm
(T. melones) Shallow water (less than 200 m depth), low intertidalon rocks, consume abalanos.
Domain
Eukaryota
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Mollusca
Class
Gastropoda
Order
Neogastropoda
Superfamily
Muricoidea
Family
Muricidae
Genus
Vasula
Species
melones
Taxon category: Accepted
Syn.: Purpura crassa Blainville, 1832, Purpura melones Duclos, 1832, Thais (Vasula) melones (Duclos, 1832) (Horton et al., 2021).; (T. melones) AMNH: 87155, 91566, 110427, ANSP: 81866, 81871, 152536, 152626, 153444, 153613, 185712, 215698, 315789, 324435, BMNH: acc. n° 2271: 4 specimens (Charles Lyell coll., C. Darwin material), MHNG: 964-137, CDRS: 433, 434, 436, 1020,
Origin: Native
Map of specimen collection localities or observation records for this species in our collections database.
Distribution: (T. melones) México to Perú and Ecuador (Galapagos Islands).
- Bustamante, R.H. Vinueza, L.R., Smith, F., Banks, S., Calvopiña, M., Francisco, V., Chiriboga, A., Harris, J. (2002) Comunidades submareales rocosas I: Organismos sésiles y mesoinvertebrados móviles. In: Danulat, E. & Edgar, G.J. (eds.) (2002): Reserva Marina de Galápagos. Línea Base de la Biodiversidad. Fundación Charles Darwin/Servicio Parque Nacional Galápagos, Santa Cruz, Galápagos, Ecuador, p. 38-67.
- Finet, Y. (1991) The Marine Mollusks of the Galapagos Islands. In: Galápagos Marine Invertebrate. Taxonomy, Biogeography, and Evolution in Darwin's Islands. Plenum Press. New York and London, p. 253-280.
- Horton, T. Horton, T., Kroh, A., Ahyong, S., Bailly, N., Boyko, C. B., Brandão, S. N., Gofas, S., Hooper, J. N. A., Hernandez, F., Holovachov, O., Mees, J., Molodtsova, T. N., Paulay, G., Decock, W., Dekeyzer, S., Poffyn, G., Vandepitte, L., Vanhoorne, B., Adlard, R., ... Zhao, Z. (2021) World Register of Marine Species. Available from https://www.marinespecies.org at VLIZ.
- Keen, A.M. (1958) Sea Shells of Tropical West America. Stanford University Press, Palo Alto, 1st edition, 624 pp.
You are welcome to download and use the information found in this page, acknowledging its source.
This page should be cited as follows:
"Galapagos Species Database, Vasula melones", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=19925. Accessed 5 June 2026.