''Crassispira cerithina'' 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 ...

Pseudomelatomidae Pseudomelatomidae is a family (biology), family of predatory sea snails, marine gastropods included in the superfamily Conoidea (previously Conacea) and part of the Neogastropoda (Taxonomy of the Gastropoda (Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005), Bouchet & Ro ...

.MolluscaBase (2018). Crassispira cerithina (Anton, 1838). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=719355 on 2018-07-29 Kantor ''et al.'' showed in 2017 that this species actually forms a species complex and recognized two new species; '' Crassispira aurea'' and '' Crassispira procera''.

Description

The length of the shell varies between 15 mm and 24 mm. The shell is dark chocolate, covered by rows of lighter colored granulations, caused by the decussation of small flexuous rather numerous longitudinal ribs and elevated revolving lines. 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 light chocolate.G.W. Tryon (1884) Manual of Conchology, structural and systematic, with illustrations of the species, vol. VI; Philadelphia, Academy of Natural Sciences
(described as ''Drillia digitalis'')

Distribution

This marine species occurs in the Indo-West Pacific off

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

, 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 ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, the

Fiji Islands Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

and 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

* Anton, H.E. 1838. ''Verzeichniss der Conchylien welche sich in der Sammlung von Hermann Eduard Anton befinden''. Halle : Eduard Anton xvi + 110 pp. * Reeve, L.A. 1843. ''Monograph of the genus Pleurotoma''. pls 1–18 in Reeve, L.A. (ed.). Conchologica Iconica. London : L. Reeve & Co. Vol. 1. * Hedley, C. 1922. ''A revision of the Australian Turridae''. Records of the Australian Museum 13(6): 213–359, pls 42–56 * Powell, A.W.B. 1967. ''The family Turridae in the Indo-Pacific. Part 1a''. The Turrinae concluded. Indo-Pacific Mollusca 1(7): 409-443, pls 298-317 * Springsteen, F.J. & Leobrera, F.M. 1986. ''Shells of the Philippines''. Manila : Carfel Seashell Museum 377 pp., 100 pls. * Wilson, B. 1994. ''Australian marine shells. Prosobranch gastropods.'' Kallaroo, WA : Odyssey Publishing Vol. 2 370 pp.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Crassispira Cerithina cerithina Gastropods described in 1840