''Mazatlania cosentini'', common name the false auger, 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 ...

Columbellidae The Columbellidae, the dove snails or dove shells, are a family of small sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the order Neogastropoda.Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S. (2010). Columbellidae. In: Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S.; Rosenberg, G. (2010) World Marin ...

, the dove snails.Bouchet, P.; Monsecour, K. (2015). Mazatlania cosentini. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=511710 on 2016-05-04

Description

The length of the shell varies between 6 mm and 24 mm. The elongated shell is narrow and turreted. It is formed of nine or ten very distinct

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). In nature File:Photograph and axial plane floral diagra ...

s, slightly convex, ornamented with a great number of ribs formed like folds, subnodulous, approximate, numerous, and slightly raised upon the lowest whorl. These ribs are apparent only at the upper part, whilst the base is provided with transverse striae, easily distinguished. The aperture is ovate, and strongly notched. The thin 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 sharp and rounded at the lower extremity. The

columella Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (, Arabic: ) was a prominent Roman writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire. His in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture and ancient Roman cuisin ...

is a little bent. The general color is of a yellowish white, ornamented with ferruginous, minute lines, and with a surrounding band of a bluish brown, below each suture. 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 ...

presents, towards its base, another larger and deeper colored band, which is obvious within the aperture.Kiener (1840). General species and iconography of recent shells : comprising the Massena Museum, the collection of Lamarck, the collection of the Museum of Natural History, and the recent discoveries of travellers; Boston :W.D. Ticknor,1837
(described as ''Buccinum aciculatum'' Lamarck, 1822)

Distribution

This species occurs in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

References

* Bouchet P. & Gofas S. (1983). "Terebra" cosentini Philippi, 1836 an American columbellid species. The Nautilus 97 (1): 26–28

External links

Calcara, P. (1845). Cenno sui molluschi viventi e fossili della Sicilia da servire da supplimento ed insieme di critiche osservazioni all'opera di R.A. Philippi. Stamperia Reale, Palermo, 65 pp., pl. 1-4
Columbellidae Gastropods described in 1836 {{Columbellidae-stub