''Solariella amabilis'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

of sea snail, a marine gastropod

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is es ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Solariellidae Solariellidae is a family of small sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Trochoidea (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005).Gofas, S. (2011). Solariellidae. Accessed through: World Register ...

Description

(Original description by Jeffreys) The height of the shell attains 8 mm, its diameter 7 mm. The pure pearl-white, pyramidal shell is moderately solid. It is semitransparent, of a pearly and partially iridescent luster. Its sculpture shows two spiral ridges or keels on the upper part of each of the last three or four

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 flo ...

s, and one on the upper part of the next or smaller whorl, besides several finer but irregular ridges on the base of the last or largest whorl, and numerous minute spiral striae between all the ridges. The principal ridges are placed near the suture of each whorl, both above and below, leaving a broad flattened space in the middle and a narrow excavated space below the suture, thus imparting a tower-like appearance to the shell. The upper whorls are also marked with numerous short and fine longitudinal ribs, which cross the ridges and make them crenelated. 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. Spires are ...

is elevated. The

apex The apex is the highest point of something. The word may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional entities * Apex (comics), a teenaged super villainess in the Marvel Universe * Ape-X, a super-intelligent ape in the Squadron Supreme universe *Apex, ...

is semiglobose, prominent and slightly twisted. The seven whorls increase gradually in size. The suture is very distinct. The

aperture In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. An ...

is nearly circular, but angulated or somewhat notched below by the umbilical ridge. The outer

lip The lips are the visible body part at the mouth of many animals, including humans. Lips are soft, movable, and serve as the opening for food intake and in the articulation of sound and speech. Human lips are a tactile sensory organ, and can be ...

is thin and slightly expanded. The inner lip is folded a little back on the

umbilicus Umbilicus may refer to: *The navel or belly button *Umbilicus (mollusc), a feature of gastropod, Nautilus and Ammonite shell anatomy * ''Umbilicus'' (plant), a genus of over ninety species of perennial flowering plants *Umbilicus urbis Romae The ...

, and adheres to the

columella Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (; Arabic: , 4 – ) was a prominent writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire. His ' in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture, together with the ...

. Inside, the shell is more or less iridescent. The umbilicus is large but not wide, funnel-shaped, and completely exposing the whole of the inner spire. It is encircled outside by a strong spiral ridge, which is often beaded, and winds like a staircase into the interior. The operculum forms a spiral of about a dozen whorls, the edges of which are imbricated and overlap one another in succession. (Description as ''Solariella affinis'') The whitish-pearly, thin shell is broadly umbilicated. It has a conoidal shape. The 5 convex whorls are separated by a gradate suture. They are ornamented with oblique, dense regular radiating costellae, and two spiral lirae on the lower part. The body whorl is ventricose, radiately costellate above, with three acute elevated median spiral cinguli, beneath with obsolete concentric striae. The umbilicus is wide, carinated at the periphery, plicate, and denticulate. The

is subcircular. This marine species is finely and closely reticulated ; the

s are rounded and show no trace of angularity. The

is not encircled by a keel.Tryon (1889), Manual of Conchology XI, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia
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Distribution

This species occurs in the Atlantic Ocean in the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...

, off

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

to Western

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

off Western

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria ...

and the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Great ...

References

* Friele H., 1877: ''Preliminary report on the Mollusca from the Norwegian North Atlantic Expedition in 1876''; Nyt Magazin for Naturvidenskaberne 23: 1–10, 1 pl. * Warén, A. (1993). New and little known mollusca from Iceland and Scandinavia, Part 2. Sarsia. 78: 159–201. * Gofas, S.; Le Renard, J.; Bouchet, P. (2001). Mollusca, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). ''European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification''. Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp. 180–213

External links

*
Jeffreys J. G., 1862–1869: ''British Conchology'' London, van Voorst; Vol. 1: pp. CXIV + 341 [1862]. Vol. 2: pp. 479 [1864] Il frontrespizio reca la data 1863 ma in effetti pubblicato nel 1864. Vol. 3: pp. 394 (1865). Vol. 4: pp. 487 (1867). Vol. 5: pp. 259 (1869)

Jeffreys, J. G. (1883). On the Mollusca procured during the 'Lightning' and 'Porcupine' expeditions 1868-70. (Part VI). Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1882: 88-115, pl. 19, 20.

Williams S.T., Smith L.M., Herbert D.G., Marshall B.A., Warén A., Kiel S., Dyal P., Linse K., Vilvens C. & Kano Y. (2013) ''Cenozoic climate change and diversification on the continental shelf and slope: evolution of gastropod diversity in the family Solariellidae (Trochoidea).'' Ecology and Evolution 3(4): 887–917

Fischer, P. (1882-1883). Diagnoses d'espèces nouvelles de mollusques recueillis dans le cours des expéditions scientifiques de l'aviso "Le Travailleur" (1880 et 1881). Journal de Conchyliologie. 30: 49-53

Friele H. (1877) Tungebevæbningen hos de Norske Rhipidoglossa. Archiv for mathematik og naturvidenskab, 2: 199-317, pl. 1-5

Gofas, S.; Luque, Á. A.; Templado, J.; Salas, C. (2017). A national checklist of marine Mollusca in Spanish waters. Scientia Marina. 81(2) : 241-254, and supplementary online material

Williams S.T., Kano Y., Warén A. & Herbert D.G. (2020). Marrying molecules and morphology: first steps towards a reevaluation of solariellid genera (Gastropoda: Trochoidea) in the light of molecular phylogenetic studies. Journal of Molluscan Studies. 86(1): 1–26
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solariella Amabilis amabilis Gastropods described in 1865