''Taranidaphne amphitrites'' 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

Raphitomidae Raphitomidae is a family of small to medium-sized sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea.Bouchet P. & Rocroi J.-P. (Ed.) (2005). "Classification and nomenclator of gastropod families". '' Malacologia'' 47(1-2). . 3 ...

Description

The length of the shell attains 8 mm, its diameter 3 mm. (Original description in Latin) The delicate ovate-cylindrical shell is semi-transparent and has a milky white color. It contains 7-8 whorls of which 2⅓ whorls in 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 ...

. These are white and rather slowly decussate. The subsequent whorls show lirate ribs. They are spirally crossed by denser lirae forming gemmules in the junctions. The white aperture is ovate-oblong with a glassy interior. The outer lip is thin. The

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 ...

is short and slightly recurved. Melvill J.C. & Standen R. (1903). ''Descriptions of sixty-eight new Gastropoda from the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, and North Arabian Sea, dredged by the Indo-European Telegraph Service, 1901–1903.'' Annals and Magazine of Natural History. ser. 7, 12: 289-324
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Distribution

This marine species occurs in the

Gulf of Oman The Gulf of Oman or Sea of Oman ( ar, خليج عمان ''khalīj ʿumān''; fa, دریای عمان ''daryâ-ye omân''), also known as Gulf of Makran or Sea of Makran ( ar, خلیج مکران ''khalīj makrān''; fa, دریای مکرا� ...

and off Yemen.

References

* Morassi, M. A. U. R. O., and A. Bonfitto. "Taranidaphne dufresnei (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Turridae), new genus and species from Yemen, Red Sea." VELIGER-BERKELEY- 44.1 (2001): 66-72.

External links

*
Gastropods.com: ''Taranidaphne amphitrites''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taranidaphne Amphitrites amphitrites Gastropods described in 1903