''Pusionella nifat'' 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 ...

Clavatulidae Clavatulidae is a Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic family (biology), family of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea. The family is not well differentiated morphologically. Clavatulidae was raised, based on cladistic an ...

Description

The whorls are usually narrowly shouldered above. The shell is whitish under a light olivaceous, thin epidermis, with several revolving series of square chestnut spots. The base is constricted, with a few engraved striae. The shouldered form is ''Pusionella nifat scalarina'' George Washington Tryon, Manual of Conchology vol. VI p. 235; 1884 This species differs from ''

Pusionella vulpina ''Pusionella vulpina'' is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Clavatulidae. Description The size of an adult shell varies between 25 mm and 46 mm. The shell is stouter than the shell of '' Pusionella ...

'' by its median white band.

Distribution

This species occurs in the Atlantic Ocean off West Africa (

Gabon Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

) and

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

. Living species have been dredged up in the Mediterranean Sea off

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

References

* Lamarck J.B. (1816). Liste des objets représentés dans les planches de cette livraison. In: Tableau encyclopédique et méthodique des trois règnes de la Nature. Mollusques et Polypes divers. Agasse, Paris. 16 pp. * Gofas, S.; Afonso, J.P.; Brandào, M. (Ed.). (S.a.). ''Conchas e Moluscos de Angola = Coquillages et Mollusques d'Angola. hells and molluscs of Angola'. Universidade Agostinho / Elf Aquitaine Angola: Angola. 140 pp. * Bernard, P.A. (Ed.) (1984). ''Coquillages du Gabon hells of Gabon'' Pierre A. Bernard: Libreville, Gabon. 140, 75 plates pp.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pusionella nifat nifat Gastropods described in 1789