''Synaptocochlea stellata'' is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

sea snail Sea snails are slow-moving marine (ocean), marine gastropod Mollusca, molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the Taxonomic classification, taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguishe ...

, a marine

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

mollusk Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Trochidae The Trochidae, common name top-snails or top-shells, are a family of various sized sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the subclass Vetigastropoda. This family is commonly known as the top-snails because in many species the shell resembles ...

, the top snails.MolluscaBase eds. (2022). MolluscaBase. Synaptocochlea stellata (Souverbie, 1863). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=573084 on 2022-06-24 This species has become a "

species inquirenda In biological classification, a ''species inquirenda'' is a species of doubtful identity requiring further investigation. The use of the term in English-language biological literature dates back to at least the early nineteenth century. The ter ...

", meaning of doubtful identity.

Description

The heigfht of the shell attains 7½ mm, its diameter 5¼ mm. The shell is ear-shaped, with a minute

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...

and a very large, convex

body whorl The body whorl is part of the morphology (biology), morphology of the gastropod shell, shell in those gastropod mollusks that possess a coiled shell. The term is also sometimes used in a similar way to describe the shell of a cephalopod mollusk ...

. Its surface is somewhat shining, black with scattered whitish dots, spots or zigzag lines. The shell is sculptured by numerous close microscopic spiral striae, several smaller alternating with larger ones, and somewhat decussated by impressed growth lines. The spire is very short with a minute whitish nucleus. The three

whorl A whorl ( or ) is an individual circle, oval, volution or equivalent in a whorled pattern, which consists of a spiral or multiple concentric objects (including circles, ovals and arcs). In nature File:Photograph and axial plane floral diagra ...

s are convex. The body whorl is very large. The ovate

aperture In optics, the aperture of an optical system (including a system consisting of a single lens) is the hole or opening that primarily limits light propagated through the system. More specifically, the entrance pupil as the front side image o ...

is angled above, polished, and bright inside, and of a blue color. The

columella Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (, Arabic: ) was a prominent Roman writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire. His in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture and ancient Roman cuisin ...

is arched. A slight chink is at the place of the umbilicus.G.W. Tryon (1890) Manual of Conchology XII; Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, 1890
/ref>

Distribution

This marine species occurs off

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

and in the Indo-Pacific, off

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

; off

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia.

References

* Brazier, J. 1877 mprint 1878 ''Continuation of the Mollusca collected during the Chevert Expedition''. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 2(1): 41-53 * Pilsbry, H.A. 1890. ''Manual of Conchology''. Philadelphia : Academy of Natural Sciences Philadelphia Vol. 12 323 pp., 65 pls. * Hedley, C. 1901. ''A revision of the types of the marine shells of the "Chevert" Expedition''. Records of the Australian Museum 4: 121-130 * Dautzenberg, Ph. (1929). ''Contribution à l'étude de la faune de Madagascar: Mollusca marina testacea. Faune des colonies françaises, III (fasc. 4).'' Société d'Editions géographiques, maritimes et coloniales: Paris. 321–636, plates IV-VII pp. * Cernohorsky, W.O. 1978. ''Tropical Pacific marine shells''. Sydney : Pacific Publications 352 pp., 68 pls * Wilson, B. 1993. ''Australian Marine Shells. Prosobranch Gastropods.'' Kallaroo, Western Australia : Odyssey Publishing Vol. 1 408 pp. * Herbert D.G. (1996) ''A critical review of the trochoidean types in the Muséum d'Histoire naturelle, Bordeaux (Mollusca, Gastropoda)''. Bulletin du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, ser. 4, 18 (A, 3–4): 409–445.

External links

Souverbie, M. & Montrouzier, R.P. 1863. ''Descriptions d'espèces nouvelles de l'Archipel Calédonien et des îles Salomon et Woodlark''. Journal de Conchyliologie 11(2): 161-176
{{DEFAULTSORT:Synaptocochlea Stellata stellata Gastropods described in 1863