''Splendrillia aoteana'' 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

Drilliidae The Drilliidae are a Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic family (biology), family of small predatory sea snails with high-spired shells. They are classified as marine (ocean), marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea. This family has no s ...

. This species has also been found a fossil in Pliocene Strata of New Zealand. This name was in 1930 introduced by Finlay as a

nomen novum In biological nomenclature, a ''nomen novum'' (Latin for "new name"), new replacement name (or replacement name, new substitute name, substitute name) is a scientific name that is created specifically to replace another scientific name, but only w ...

pro ''Pleurotoma laevis'' Hutton, 1873a, non ''Pleurotoma laevis'' Bellardi, 1847.

Description

The length of the shell attains 18 mm, its diameter 7 mm. (Original description) The solid shell has a claviform shape. It is axially costate, with a pinkish spiral band. The sculpture consists of oblique rounded and strong axial ribs, beginning at the angle of the shoulder, and extending to the suture below. 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 ...

they are obsolete on the base. Their number is about 14 on a whorl. The whole surface, and especially the interstices, are very distinctly striated by fine flexuous growth lines, crescent-shaped on the smooth depression of the shoulder. The microscopic spiral lines are sometimes visible on the shoulder, and, a little stouter, upon the lower part of the base. The lightly elevated fasciole is very finely transversely striated. The colour of the shell is pale fulvous, usually with a broad spiral band of pink on the centre of the whorls. The spire is high, acuminate, turreted, nearly twice the height of the aperture. The

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 ...

consists of 1½ smooth convex white

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, the nucleus broadly rounded. The teleoconch contains about 8 whorls, regularly increasing, a little concave at the narrow shoulder, andconvex below it. The body whorl is flatly rounded below the angle, but faintly contracted at the base. The sutureis distinct and not deep. The aperture is oblique, narrowly ovate, produced below into a short straight and widely open

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 ...

, sinuated at the base. The outer lip is convex, a little contracted below, thickened inside, with a rather deep and narrow sinus above, its margins thickly callous. The columella is subvertical, drawn out to a fine point below. The inner lip is smooth, broad, and thick, extending over the parietal wall, which has a prominent tubercle margining the sinus. The operculum is unknown. Suter H. (1913–1915), Manual of New Zealand Mollusca; Wellington, N. Z. :J. Mackay, govt. printer,1913–1915
(described as ''Drillia laevis'')

Distribution

This species occurs in the demersal zone of the Pacific Ocean off New Zealand.

References

Tucker, J.K. 2004 ''Catalog of recent and fossil turrids (Mollusca: Gastropoda)''. Zootaxa 682:1–1295.

External links

Spencer H.G., Willan R.C., Marshall B.A. & Murray T.J. (2011) ''Checklist of the Recent Mollusca Recorded from the New Zealand Exclusive Economic Zone''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Splendrillia Aoteana aoteana Gastropods of New Zealand Gastropods described in 1930