Clear sundial

About this species

Architectonica perspectiva, whose common name is the clear or perspective sundial shell, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Architectonicidae, which are known as the staircase shells or sundials.Subspecies and varietyArchitectonica perspectiva fressa Iredale, 1936: synonym of Architectonica perspectiva (Linnaeus, 1758) Architectonica perspectiva var. modesta (R. A. Philippi, 1849): synonym of Architectonica modesta (R. A. Philippi, 1849)

Text from the Wikipedia article “Architectonica perspectiva”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 34 records
February: 34 records
March: 31 records
April: 28 records
May: 34 records
June: 44 records
July: 43 records
August: 27 records
September: 20 records
October: 16 records
November: 16 records
December: 38 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 9–60 m · Deepest record: 174 m

0–10 m: 5 records
10–20 m: 5 records
20–30 m: 4 records
30–40 m: 1 records
40–50 m: 6 records
50–60 m: 8 records
60–70 m: 1 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 1 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 2 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 18–30 °C

18–20 °C: 1 records
20–22 °C: 1 records
22–24 °C: 17 records
24–26 °C: 33 records
26–28 °C: 55 records
28–30 °C: 93 records

Photos

(c) Richard Parker, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Magnefl, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Anders Sandberg, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Justine Lee Hirten, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Matt B, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Catarina Lobato, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Matt B, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Clear sundial, European sundial snail, Sundial, clear sundial, Clear Sundial Shell, Perspective Sundial Shell, sundial

Names in 5 more languages

German: Europäische Sonnenuhrschnecke, Perspektivschnecke
French: Cadran solaire
Japanese: クロスジグルマ
Thai: หอยขวัญ, หอยวงเวียน
Simplified Chinese: 黑線車輪螺

Other scientific names: Solarium (Architectonica) hanleyi, Solarium (Architectonica) trisulcatum, Solarium australe, Solarium cumingii, Solarium formosum, Solarium fuliginosum, Solarium hanleyi, Solarium incisum, Solarium maculatum, Solarium perspectivum, Solarium striatum, Solarium trisulcatum, Solarium zonatum, Trochus perspectivus

Similar species

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
388 open-data records from 1758 to 2013.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.