This is known from empty shells at Kwajalein and Enewetak, as well as a living animal photographed by Stan Jazwinski at Ailinglaplap Atoll, where several specimens were seen on a sandy rubble-strewn reef flat in about 1m of water at Beran Island. Bulla ampulla was first reported in the Marshall Islands from Enewetak Atoll as Bulla vernicosa by Johnson & Boucher (1984).
The photos below show an empty shell measuring 43.8mm in length found at about 20m in a Kwajalein lagoon Halimeda patch on 25 July 2009. It must have been recently vacated by a Dardanus hermit crab, since two of the crab's Calliactis anemones are still attached to the shell.
Created 27 January 2007
Updated 3 August 2021