Nucella lapillus (Linnaeus, 1758)
(Dog Whelk)

Interactions where Nucella lapillus is the dominant partner and gains from the process

The following relationships have been collated from the published literature (see 'Interaction References').

Stage		Summary			Taxon	Vernacular	Classification	References	Darwin Classification of Active Taxon	Active Taxon	Active Vernacular	Active Taxon Uncertain	Active State	Active Part	Active Stage	Relationship	Relationship Uncertain	Relationship Geography	Darwin Classification of Passive Taxon	Passive Taxon	Passive Vernacular	Passive Taxon Uncertain	Passive State	Passive Part	Passive Stage	Passive Taxon's significance to Active Taxon	Indoors etc	Season
adult		adult is predator of			Semibalanus balanoides	Acorn Barnacle	Sessilia: Archaeobalanidae	An Introduction to the Biology of British Littoral Barnacles, Rainbow, P.S., 1984 Nucella lapillus, Identification and Biology, Smith, I.F., 2014	/Animalia/Mollusca/Gastropoda/Neogastropoda/Muricidae/Nucella lapillus/	Nucella lapillus	dog whelk				adult	Animal / predator		UK and/or Eire	/Animalia/Arthropoda/Maxillopoda/Sessilia/Archaeobalanidae/Semibalanus balanoides/	Semibalanus balanoides	acorn barnacle					Major
adult		adult is predator of			Perforatus perforatus	an acorn barnacle	Sessilia: Balanidae	Nucella lapillus, Identification and Biology, Smith, I.F., 2014	/Animalia/Mollusca/Gastropoda/Neogastropoda/Muricidae/Nucella lapillus/	Nucella lapillus	dog whelk				adult	Animal / predator		UK and/or Eire	/Animalia/Arthropoda/Maxillopoda/Sessilia/Balanidae/Perforatus perforatus/	Perforatus perforatus	an acorn barnacle					Rare
adult		adult is predator of			Austrominius modestus	Darwin’s Barnacle	Sessilia: Austrobalanidae	An Introduction to the Biology of British Littoral Barnacles, Rainbow, P.S., 1984 Nucella lapillus, Identification and Biology, Smith, I.F., 2014	/Animalia/Mollusca/Gastropoda/Neogastropoda/Muricidae/Nucella lapillus/	Nucella lapillus	dog whelk				adult	Animal / predator		UK and/or Eire	/Animalia/Arthropoda/Maxillopoda/Sessilia/Austrobalanidae/Austrominius modestus/	Austrominius modestus	Darwin's barnacle					Minor
juvenile (up to 8mm high)		juvenile (up to 8mm high) is predator of			Spirorbis	a genus of polychaete worms	Sabellida: Serpulidae	Nucella lapillus, Identification and Biology, Smith, I.F., 2014	/Animalia/Mollusca/Gastropoda/Neogastropoda/Muricidae/Nucella lapillus/	Nucella lapillus	dog whelk				juvenile (up to 8mm high)	Animal / predator		UK and/or Eire	/Animalia/Annelida/Polychaeta/Sabellida/Serpulidae/Spirorbis/	Spirorbis	a genus of polychaete worms
adult		adult is predator of			Mytilus edulis	Common Mussel, Blue Mussel	Mytiloida: Mytilidae	Nucella lapillus, Identification and Biology, Smith, I.F., 2014	/Animalia/Mollusca/Gastropoda/Neogastropoda/Muricidae/Nucella lapillus/	Nucella lapillus	dog whelk				adult	Animal / predator		UK and/or Eire	/Animalia/Mollusca/Bivalvia/Mytiloida/Mytilidae/Mytilus edulis/	Mytilus edulis	common mussel, blue mussel					Major
juvenile (up to 8mm high)		juvenile (up to 8mm high) is predator of			Mytilus edulis	Common Mussel, Blue Mussel	Mytiloida: Mytilidae	Nucella lapillus, Identification and Biology, Smith, I.F., 2014	/Animalia/Mollusca/Gastropoda/Neogastropoda/Muricidae/Nucella lapillus/	Nucella lapillus	dog whelk				juvenile (up to 8mm high)	Animal / predator		UK and/or Eire	/Animalia/Mollusca/Bivalvia/Mytiloida/Mytilidae/Mytilus edulis/	Mytilus edulis	common mussel, blue mussel					Major
juvenile (up to 8mm high)		juvenile (up to 8mm high) is predator of			Onoba aculeus	a mollusc	Littorinimorpha: Rissoidae	Nucella lapillus, Identification and Biology, Smith, I.F., 2014	/Animalia/Mollusca/Gastropoda/Neogastropoda/Muricidae/Nucella lapillus/	Nucella lapillus	dog whelk				juvenile (up to 8mm high)	Animal / predator		Foreign	/Animalia/Mollusca/Gastropoda/Littorinimorpha/Rissoidae/Onoba aculeus/	Onoba aculeus	a mollusc					Major

Author & Year	Title	Source
Rainbow, P.S., 1984	An Introduction to the Biology of British Littoral Barnacles	Field Studies 6: 1-51.
Smith, I.F., 2014	Nucella lapillus, Identification and Biology	https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264934519_Nucella_lapillus_identification_and_biology

Nucella lapillus (Dog Whelk) may also be included in 'feeds on' relations listed under the following higher taxa:

MURICIDAE
(a family of whelks and oyster drills)

Nucella lapillus (Dog Whelk) may be included in 'fed on by' relations listed under the following higher taxa:

GASTROPODA
(slugs and snails)

MOLLUSCA
(slugs, snails, bivalves, octopus, sea slugs)

ANIMALIA
(animals)

Invertebrates
(Invertebrates)

Taxonomic hierarchy:

Species	Nucella lapillus (Dog Whelk)
Subfamily	OCENEBRINAE (a subfamily of molluscs)
Family	MURICIDAE (a family of whelks and oyster drills)
Superfamily	MURICOIDEA (a superfamily of molluscs)
Order	NEOGASTROPODA (an order of predatory gastropods)
Subclass	CAENOGASTROPODA (a subclass of molluscs)
Class	GASTROPODA (slugs and snails)
Phylum	MOLLUSCA (slugs, snails, bivalves, octopus, sea slugs)
Superphylum	LOPHOTROCHOZOA (molluscs and relatives)
Clade	Bilateria (bilaterally symmetrical animals)
Subkingdom	EUMETAZOA (metazoans)
Kingdom	ANIMALIA (animals)
Domain	Eukaryota (eukaryotes)
Life	BIOTA (living things)

Nucella lapillus is also a member of:
Invertebrates - Invertebrates (via Mollusca)

NBN

NBN (data.nbn.org.uk) has a distribution map for Nucella lapillus (Dog Whelk)

Identification Works

Handling & Magnification	Author	Year	Title	Source
	Smith, I.F.	2014	Nucella lapillus, Identification and Biology	https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264934519_Nucella_lapillus_identification_and_biology

Nucella lapillus (Dog Whelk) may also be included in identification literature listed under the following higher taxa:

NEOGASTROPODA
(an order of predatory gastropods)

GASTROPODA
(slugs and snails)

MOLLUSCA
(slugs, snails, bivalves, octopus, sea slugs)

ANIMALIA
(animals)

Eukaryota
(eukaryotes)

BIOTA
(living things)

General Works

Author	Year	Title	Source
Crothers, J.H.	1985	Dog-whelks: an introduction to the Biology of Nucella lapillus (L.)	Field Studies 6: 291-360.
Pollution Effects
Crothers, J.H.	1998	The size and shape of dog-whelks, Nucella lapillus (L.) recolonising a site formerly polluted by tributyltin (TBT) in anti-fouling paint	J. Mollus. Stud. Vol 64: 127-129.

Literature listed under the following higher taxa may also be relevant to Nucella lapillus (Dog Whelk):

NEOGASTROPODA
(an order of predatory gastropods)

GASTROPODA
(slugs and snails)

MOLLUSCA
(slugs, snails, bivalves, octopus, sea slugs)

EUMETAZOA
(metazoans)

ANIMALIA
(animals)

Eukaryota
(eukaryotes)

BIOTA
(living things)

Invertebrates
(Invertebrates)

BioImages

BioImages (www.bioimages.org.uk) has 25 images of Nucella lapillus (Dog Whelk)

Creative Commons License

This website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence.

Unless otherwise expressly stated, all original material on the BioInfo website by Malcolm Storey is licensed under the above Creative Commons Licence.

BioInfo - Wildlife Information (UK)