''Inquisitor formidabilis'' 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 ...

, the turrids and allies.

Description

The length of the shell attains 51 mm, its diameter 15 mm. (Original description) The shell is large but comparatively thin, fusiform, subturreted and sharply pointed. The

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...

is produced. The base of the shell is contracted. The shell contains 13

whorls 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 diagram ...

. Its colour is grey-buff, maculated with chestnut at the sutures.

Sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

:—The radials are oblique, wide-spaced, consisting of low peripheral nodular riblets, ten on the penultimate, and eleven 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 ...

. On the earlier whorls the ribs ascend the spire perpendicularly and continuously, but on the lower whorls they are less developed and less regular. There is a secondary sculpture of fine radial threads which sometimes crowd the interstitial spaces of the spirals. On the body whorl are about thirty-two broad spiral cords, and on the penultimate ten. In their interstices one or more spiral threads may arise. A funicular rib on the anterior end of the shell encloses a small false umbilicus. The fasciole is broad, and is appressed to the suture. It is smooth save for crescentic growth lines.

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 ...

:—The sinus is wide and V-shaped. 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 arched forwards, and the free sharp edge is bent inwards a little towards the aperture. Opposite the base of 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 ...

is a stromboid inflection. The siphonal canal is short, wide, and sharply recurved. The columella is overspread with a thick

callus A callus (: calluses) is an area of thickened and sometimes hardened skin that forms as a response to repeated friction, pressure, or other irritation. Since repeated contact is required, calluses are most often found on the feet and hands, b ...

rising in a low tubercle opposite the sinus. Hedley, C. 1922. A revision of the Australian Turridae. Records of the Australian Museum 13(6): 213-359, pls 42-56

Distribution

This marine species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to Australia and occurs 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 ...

References

* Rippingale, O.H. & McMichael, D.F. 1961. ''Queensland and Great Barrier Reef shells''. Brisbane : Jacaranda Press 210 pp. * Powell, A.W.B. 1968. ''The turrid shellfish of Australian waters''. Australian Natural History 1 16: 1–6 * Wells, F.E. & Bryce, C.W. 1986. ''Seashells of Western Australia''. Perth : Western Australian Museum 207 pp. * Wells, F.E. 1994. ''A revision of the Recent Australian species of the turrid genera Inquisitor and Ptychobela''. Journal of the Malacological Society of Australasia 15: 71-102 * Wilson, B. 1994. ''Australian marine shells.'' Prosobranch gastropods. Kallaroo, WA : Odyssey Publishing Vol. 2 370 pp. * Liu J.Y. uiyu(ed.). (2008). ''Checklist of marine biota of China seas.'' China Science Press. 1267 pp.

External links

*
Gastropods.com: ''Inquisitor formidabilis''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Inquisitor Formidabilis formidabilis Gastropods described in 1922 Gastropods of Australia