''Fusinus aepynotus'', known as the graceful spindle, 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), ...

of small

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 ...

native to the Gulf of Mexico and southern Florida.

Taxonomy

The first specimens of ''Fusinus aepynotus'' known to science were dredged by the United States Coast Survey steamer ''Blake'' between 1877 and 1878.

William Healey Dall William Healey Dall (August 21, 1845 – March 27, 1927) was an American natural history, naturalist, a prominent Malacology, malacologist, and one of the earliest scientific explorers of interior Alaska. He described many mollusks of the Pacifi ...

, who had been tasked with describing the mollusk collection of the ''Blake'', named ''F. aepynotus'' in 1889 as one of several new species of ''Fusus'' from the collection. In 1904, Amadeus W. Grabau suggested that several species of ''Fusus'' collected by the ''Blake'', including ''F. aepynotus'', probably should be assigned to new genera, and that they may be descendants of the fossil genus '' Falsifusus''. Due to historical nomenclatural confusion that was not fully resolved by the

International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is an organization dedicated to "achieving stability and sense in the scientific naming of animals". Founded in 1895, it currently comprises 26 commissioners from 20 countries. Orga ...

until 1994, the genus ''Fusus'' was eventually replaced by ''Fusinus''. In 1987, Petuch proposed classifying ''F. aepynotus'' in '' Harasewychia'', but in 2000, Hadorn and Rogers disputed this classification and returned the species to ''Fusinus''. Hadorn and Rogers also recognized that two of the shells that Dall had assigned to ''F. aepynotus'' represented a distinct species, which they named '' Fusinus thompsoni''. In 2018, Vermeij and Snyder revised the taxonomy of large species of ''

Fusinus ''Fusinus'' is a genus of small to large sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Fasciolariidae, the spindle snails and tulip snails. Fossil records This genus is known in the fossil records from the Cretaceous to the Quaternar ...

'', which they restricted to a group species from the Indo–West Pacific region. ''F. aepynotus'' was not one of the species they listed as belonging to their restricted concept of ''Fusinus''. In 2019, Lyons and Snyder considered the species not addressed by Vermeij and Snyder to be retained in ''Fusinus

sensu lato ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular co ...

'' until they could be reclassified. ''Fusinus aepynotus'' belongs to Fusininae, a subfamily of

Fasciolariidae Fasciolariidae is a family of small to large sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Buccinoidea. Species in Fasciolariidae are commonly known as tulip snails and spindle snails. The family Fasciolariidae most likely appeared ...

. ''F. aepynotus'' has the

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often con ...

of "graceful spindle".

Description

''Fusinus aepynotus'' is a relatively small species, with a maximum known shell length of .

Ecology

Like other fasciolariids, ''Fusinus aepynotus'' is a

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning "the depths". ...

carnivore. Its range includes the Gulf of Mexico, the Florida Keys, and southeastern Florida. It is found at depths between 37 and 366 meters. It is a common species.

Human significance

''Fusinus aepynotus'' is rarely collected by shell collectors, because of its small size.

References

Works cited

* * * * * * * aepynotus Gastropods described in 1889 {{Fasciolariidae-stub