''Lusitanops bullioides'' is a species of

sea snail Sea snail is a common name for slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguished from snails primarily by the ...

, a marine

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusk in the family

Raphitomidae Raphitomidae is a family of small to medium-sized sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea.Bouchet P. & Rocroi J.-P. (Ed.) (2005). "Classification and nomenclator of gastropod families". ''Malacologia'' 47(1-2). . 39 ...

Description

The length of the shell attains 4 mm, its diameter 2.8 mm. (Original description) The shell has an ovate fusiform shape with the spire rather depressed. Its colour is white, with a chestnut-brown

protoconch A protoconch (meaning first or earliest or original shell) is an embryonic or larval shell which occurs in some classes of molluscs, e.g., the initial chamber of an ammonite or the larval shell of a gastropod. In older texts it is also called ...

. The shell contains six somewhat convex

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). Whorls in nature File:Photograph and axial plane floral ...

s with a suture well-marked. The protoconch is composed of four whorls, the first minutely punctate, the second and third being decussated by arcuate riblets, while the fourth whorl has this decussation on its lower half, but one series of riblets has become obsolete on the upper half. The residue of the shell is, in some specimens, marked by three or four incised lines, the only other sculpture being the lines of growth, which are sinuous and more noticeable just below the suture. The

body whorl The body whorl is part of the morphology of the 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. In gastropods In gastropods, the b ...

is large and inflated. The aperture is ovate. The columella is slightly curved. The outer lip is thin and arcuate, with a deep sinus at its upper margin. Sykes E. R. (1906). "On the Mollusca procured during the "Porcupine" Expeditions 1869-1870. Supplemental notes, part 3". ''Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London'' 7: 173-190
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Distribution

This marine species occurs off Portugal.

References

* Gofas, S.; Le Renard, J.; Bouchet, P. (2001). Mollusca. in: Costello, M.J. et al. (eds), European Register of Marine Species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Patrimoines Naturels. 50: 180-213

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lusitanops Bullioides bullioides Gastropods described in 1906