''Pyrene obtusa'' 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.

Description

The shell size varies between 11 mm and 18 mm The small shell is pretty thin, ovate, conical and smooth. It is of a diaphanous white. The sutures are indistinctly apparent. The

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...

is composed of six 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). In nature File:Photograph and axial plane floral diagra ...

s, ornamented at their base with spots of a duller white. 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 ...

is as large as all the others, striated at base, and surrounded, towards the middle, with small, distant spots, articulated by a reddish line. The

aperture In optics, the aperture of an optical system (including a system consisting of a single lens) is the hole or opening that primarily limits light propagated through the system. More specifically, the entrance pupil as the front side image o ...

is ovate. The 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 ...

denticulated within, and thickened outwardly, even to the base of the shell.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 lacteum'')

Distribution

This species occurs in the Indian Ocean off

East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

and

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

and

Réunion Réunion (; ; ; known as before 1848) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France. Part of the Mascarene Islands, it is located approximately east of the isl ...

and in the Indo-West Pacific; off Australia (

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 ...

)

References

* Sowerby, G.B. (1st) 1832. ''Descriptions of new species of shells collected by Mr. Cuming.'' Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1832(2): 113–120 * Duclos, P.L. 1840. ''Histoire naturelle generale et particuliere de tous genres de coquilles univalves marines a l'état vivant et fossile publiee par monographie. Genre Columbelle.'' Paris : Didot. * Souverbie, M. & Montrouzier, R.P. 1865. ''Descriptions d'espèces nouvelles de l'Archipel Calédonien.'' Journal de Conchyliologie 13: 150–159, pl. 5 * Schmeltz, J.D.K. 1874. ''Museum Godeffroy Catalog 5''. Hamburg : L. Friederichsen & Co. 215 pp. * Drivas, J. & Jay, M. 1990. ''The Columbellidae of Réunion Island (Mollusca: Gastropoda).'' Annals of the Natal Museum 31: 163–200 * Michel, C. (1988). ''Marine molluscs of Mauritius''. Editions de l'Ocean Indien. Stanley, Rose Hill. Mauritius * Wilson, B. 1994. ''Australian Marine Shells. Prosobranch Gastropods.'' Kallaroo, WA : Odyssey Publishing Vol. 2 370 pp. * Kilburn R.N. & Marais J.P. (2010) Columbellidae. Pp. 60-104, in: Marais A.P. & Seccombe A.D. (eds), Identification guide to the seashells of South Africa. Volume 1. Groenkloof: Centre for Molluscan Studies. 376 pp.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pyrene Obtusa Columbellidae Gastropods described in 1832