''Asperosculptura lita'' 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 ...

Horaiclavidae Horaiclavidae is a family of predatory 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, taxonomi ...

.WoRMS (2015). Anacithara lita (Melvill & Standen, 1896). In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=432952 on 2016-12-21

Description

(Original description) The length of the shell attains 4 mm, its diameter 1.5 mm. This is a small plain shell of simple character. The whorls are six; the lower ones ventricose, the two apical swollen, smooth and shining. Obtuse and thick ribs, longitudinally, ornament the shell, and these are spirally crossed by many conspicuous lirae. The

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 widely ovate. The outer

lip The lips are a horizontal pair of soft appendages attached to the jaws and are the most visible part of the mouth of many animals, including humans. Mammal lips are soft, movable and serve to facilitate the ingestion of food (e.g. sucklin ...

is slightly thickened. The shell is whitish. The

is brown within. The columellar margin is plain. Likewise the sinus on the outer lip is inconspicuous, small and rounded.Melvill & Standen (1897), Catalogue of the Hadfield collection of shells from the Lifu and Uvea, Loyalty Islands Parts ii & III

Distribution

This marine species occurs off the

Loyalty Islands Loyalty Islands Province (, ) is one of the three top-level administrative subdivisions of New Caledonia. It encompasses the Loyalty Islands () archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, located northeast of the New Caledonian mainland of Grande Terre. ...

and

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

References

* Ardovini, R.; Poppe, G.T.; Tagaro, S. P. (2021). Description of three new species in a new genus in the gastropod family Horaiclavidae from the Central Philippines. Visaya. 5 (5): 127-135. {{Taxonbar, from=Q12860298 lita Gastropods described in 1896