''Neothais marginatra'', common name : the brownish drupe, 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 ...

Muricidae Muricidae is a large and varied taxonomic family of small to large predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks, commonly known as murex snails or rock snails. With over 1,700 living species, the Muricidae represent almost 10% of the Neog ...

, the murex snails or rock snails.

Description

The shell size varies between 20 mm and 45 mm

Distribution

This marine species occurs in the Indian Ocean off

Aldabra Aldabra, the world's second-largest coral atoll (the largest is Kiritimati), is located east of the continent of Africa. It is part of the Aldabra Group of islands in the Indian Ocean that are part of the Outer Islands (Seychelles), Outer Islands ...

, the

Mascarene The Mascarene Islands (, ) or Mascarenes or Mascarenhas Archipelago is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar consisting of islands belonging to the Republic of Mauritius as well as the French department of Réunion. Their na ...

Basin, the coast of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

; in the Pacific Ocean off

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

, the

Fiji Islands Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

Samoan Islands The Samoan Islands () are an archipelago covering in the central Pacific Ocean, South Pacific, forming part of Polynesia and of the wider region of Oceania. Political geography, Administratively, the archipelago comprises all of the Samoa, Indep ...

and

Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...

; off Australia (''Northern Territory'',

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 ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

References

* Küster, H.C. 1862. ''Die Gattung Ricinula''. 1–24, pls 1–5 in Kobelt, W. & Küster, H.C. (eds.). Systematisches Conchylien-Cabinet. Nürnberg : Bauer & Raspe. * Melvill, J.C. 1901. ''A few further remarks upon the Erythraen molluscan fauna, with descriptions of seven species of Aden, in the collection of Commander E.R. Shopland, RIM''. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 7 42: 550–556 * Taylor, J.D. (1971).'' Intertidal Zonation at Aldabra Atoll''. Phil. Trns. Roy. Soc. Lond. B. 260, 173–213 * Taylor, J.D. (1973). ''Provisional list of the mollusca of Aldabra Atoll'' * MacNae, W. & M. Kalk (eds) (1958). ''A natural history of Inhaca Island, Mozambique''. Witwatersrand Univ. Press, Johannesburg. I-iv, 163 pp * Drivas, J. & M. Jay (1988). ''Coquillages de La Réunion et de l'île Maurice'' * Tan, K.S. 1995. ''Taxonomy of Thais and Morula (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Muricidae) in Singapore and Vicinity''. 546 pp. * Tan, K.S. & Chou, L.M. 2000. ''A Guide to Common Seashells of Singapore''. Singapore : Singapore Science Centre 168 pp.
Claremont M., Vermeij G.J., Williams S.T. & Reid D.G. (2013) ''Global phylogeny and new classification of the Rapaninae (Gastropoda: Muricidae), dominant molluscan predators on tropical rocky seashores''. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 66: 91–102

External links

* Muricidae Gastropods described in 1832 {{Muricidae-stub