Olivella nana

Sparkling dwarf olive
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Order: Neogastropoda
Family: Olividae
Genus: Olivella
Species:
O. nana
Binomial name
Olivella nana
(Lamarck, 1811) [1]
Synonyms[3]
  • Oliva nana Lamarck, 1811 (basionym)
  • Oliva zenopira Duclos, 1835
  • Olivancillaria nana (Lamarck, 1811)
  • Olivancillaria zenopira (Duclos, 1835) (Duclos, 1835)[2]

Olivella nana, common name the sparkling dwarf olive, is a species of small sea snail, marine gastropod mollusk in the subfamily Olivellinae, in the family Olividae, the olives. Species in the genus Olivella are commonly called dwarf olives.[3]

The shells of Olivella nana, harvested on Luanda Island, were used as currency called nzimbu in the Kingdom of Kongo, and were even traded north as far as the Kingdom of Benin.[4]

  1. ^ Lamarck J.-B. (1811). Détermination des espéces de Mollusques testacés. Ann. Mus. Nat. Paris, vol. 16 page(s): 326, species 57.
  2. ^ Duclos, P.L. (1840) Histoire Naturelle Génerale et Particuliere de Tous les Genres de Coquilles Univalves Marines a l’état Vivant et Fossile, Publiée par Monographies, Genre Columbella. Didot, Paris, 1 p., 13 pls.. World Register of Marine Species, Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  3. ^ a b Olivella nana (Lamarck, 1811). Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 13 April 2012.
  4. ^ Jan Hogendorn and Marion Johnson, The Shell Money of the Slave Trade (Cambridge University Press, 1986), p. 19.