Scorched monodont
Diloma aethiops
- Usual depth0–1 m
- Water temperature12–18 °C
- Best monthsJanuary and April
- How commonOccasional
Photo credit: (c) Sebastian Doak, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Sebastian Doak · CC BY · iNaturalist
About this species
Diloma aethiops, whose common names include scorched monodont, spotted black topshell, and in the Māori language pūpū, pūpū-mai, or māihi is a species of small sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Trochidae, subfamily Monodontinae.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Diloma aethiops”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 214 records
- February: 154 records
- March: 122 records
- April: 306 records
- May: 159 records
- June: 120 records
- July: 99 records
- August: 81 records
- September: 166 records
- October: 159 records
- November: 143 records
- December: 182 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 0–1 m · Deepest record: 21 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 12–18 °C
Photos
(c) wild_wind, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) wild_wind, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Jacqui Geux, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) William Harland, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist 
(c) Jenny Saito, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) rempson, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
Names and classification
- English
- Scorched monodont, Spotted top shell, scorched monodont, spotted top shell, Spotted Top Snail
Other scientific names: Anisodiloma lugubre, Monodonta reticularis, Trochus lugubris, Trochus reticularis, Turbo aethiops
Similar species
Speckled PeriwinkleDiloma concameratum
Mudflat Top ShellDiloma subrostratum
Knobbed Top SnailDiloma bicanaliculatum
Bluish Top ShellDiloma nigerrimum
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).
- 1,154 open-data records from 1923 to 2014.
- Species data updated November 2, 2026.
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