''Neopleurotomoides rufoapicata'' 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 7.5 mm, its diameter 3.5 mm. (Original description) The thin, ovate shell has a short

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 is ...

. It is pellucid, white, with a rufous apex. The shell containsabout 7½

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 (uppermost top damaged) of which about 3½ form the rufous

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 ...

, which is angular by a strong keel, and crossed by axial riblets The subsequent whorls are very convex, with a deep suture and an excavation below it The sculpture consists of rounded, axial ribs, narrower than the interstices, 18 in number on 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 ...

, ending at the excavation and disappearing on the base of the body whorl, and spiral lirae, of which 4 principal ones on penultimate whorl, which make the ribs slightly tubercled, and a few finer ones in the excavation and in many of the interstices Moreover fine growth lines, strong in the excavation are visible. The aperture is roundedly oval, bluntly angular above, below with a rather narrow, short siphonal canal The peristome is broken, probably with a shallow sinus above, (according to the growth lines) Thecolumellar margin is concave above, then straight, directed to the left along the siphonal canal. Schepman, 1913. The prosobranchia of the Siboga expedition. Part IV -V - VI: Toxoglossa

Distribution

This marine species occurs in the Ceram Sea, Indonesia, and off the Philippines

References

External links

*
Gastropods.com: ''Neopleurotomoides rufoapicata''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neopleurotomoides Rufoapicata rufoapicata Gastropods described in 1913