''Cystiscus pardus'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

of very small sea snail, a marine gastropod

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is es ...

micromollusk A micromollusk is a shelled mollusk which is extremely small, even at full adult size. The word is usually, but not exclusively, applied to marine mollusks, although in addition, numerous species of land snails and freshwater mollusks also ...

from the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Cystiscidae Cystiscidae is a taxonomic family of minute sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks or micromollusks. Description The shell is minute to large, either white, uniformly colored, or patterned; the surface is smooth, sculptured, or axially costat ...

Description

The shell of ''C. pardus'' is translucent, and white. The shells have been observed to grow up to 1.55 mm long and 1mm wide. They can be identified by their flat spire, smooth inner shell lip, and 3 ridged plaits on their

columellar Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (; Arabic: , 4 – ) was a prominent writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire. His ' in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture, together with the ...

fold. The snail ''C. pardus'' has a bifurcated head and red eyes. The snail's foot has a cloudy patten of yellow and white. Its

mantle A mantle is a piece of clothing, a type of cloak. Several other meanings are derived from that. Mantle may refer to: *Mantle (clothing), a cloak-like garment worn mainly by women as fashionable outerwear **Mantle (vesture), an Eastern Orthodox ve ...

is yellow with densely packed blue leopard spots which can be seen through the shell.

Distribution

This species occurs in marine reefs off the north west coast of New Caledonia. It has been observed at two stations near the coast of Kuomac.''Cystiscus pardus'' Boyer, 2003 in GBIF Secretariat (2021). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2022-05-24. It lives from depths between 15 to 20m.

References

Cystiscidae Gastropods described in 2003 Pardus {{Cystiscidae-stub