''Cochlespira pulchella'' 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 ...

Cochlespiridae Cochlespiridae is a taxonomic family of predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea. This family is not well differentiated morphologically, and there is poor congruence between the molecular and shell characters. ...

. ;Subspecies: * ''Cochlespira pulchella fossata'' Powell, 1969 * ''Cochlespira pulchella pulchella'' (Schepman, 1913) * ''Cochlespira pulchella semipolita'' Powell, 1969

Description

The shell grows to a length of 25 mm, its diameter 9.5 mm. (Original description) The strongly keeled shell is fusiformly pagodaeform. Its color is yellowish-brown, lighter on the

siphonal canal The siphonal canal is an anatomical feature of the shells of certain groups of sea snails within the clade Neogastropoda. Some sea marine gastropods have a soft tubular anterior extension of the mantle called a siphon through which water i ...

, with a narrow whitish zone below the periphery and another on the fasciole. It contains 11

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, of which nearly 2 form a smooth, convexly-whorled nucleus. The subsequent upper whorls are nearly smooth, but with a strong keel, which is at first spinous. The spines are horizontally spreading, but soon become more or less upturned and have the character of erect trigonal spines. On the following 3 whorls they are spreading again on the

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 ...

. The spines number about 20 on the body whorl. The upper part of these whorls are concave. The fasciole is smooth, but for fine growth lines. This fasciole is bordered on the lower whorls by a liration, and the space between this and the spinous keel is faintly 2- or 3-lirate. The space between the keel and lower suture of the whorls is conspicuously grooved. These grooves number 10 on the penultimate whorl, about 38 on the body whorl, where some of the upper and many of the basal ones have still intermediate lirae, lacking on the penultimate and older whorls. On the last part of body whorl, the shell is still sculptured by strong growth lines, which, in crossing the interspaces or lirae between the grooves make them granulous. The body whorl is contracted below its periphery, ending in a long, straight siphonal canal, which is strongly attenuated towards its base. 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 elongately subtriangular, its upper margin nearly horizontal, with a deep, rather narrow sinus. The outer margin is joined to the upper one at a somewhat sharp angle, then slightly convex, thin, slightly fringed,. The columellar margin is concave along the body whorl, then running straight in the rather wide, long, nearly rectilinear canal, with a strong layer of white enamel on its whole length. The interior of the aperture is smooth, perhaps slightly grooved at its right margin.Schepman, 1913. The prosobranchia of the Siboga expedition. Part IV -V - VI: Toxoglossa
(described as ''Ancistrosyrinx pulchella'')

Distribution

This species occurs in the Pacific Ocean along

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

References

External links

*
Specimen of ''Cochlespira pulchella semipolita'' Powell, 1969 in the MNHN, Paris
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cochlespira Pulchella pulchella Gastropods described in 1913 Molluscs of the Pacific Ocean