''Tegula melaleucos'' 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 ...

Tegulidae Tegulidae is a family of small to large sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Trochoidea (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005).Bouchet, P. (2013). Tegulidae Kuroda, Habe & Oyama, 1971. Acces ...

.WoRMS (2012). ''Tegula melaleucos''. Accessed through:

World Register of Marine Species The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms. Content The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...

at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=575633 on 2012-09-01

Description

The size of the shell varies between 16 mm and 31 mm. The rather solid shell has a conical shape. The

apex The apex is the highest point of something. The word may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional entities * Apex (comics) A-Bomb Abomination Absorbing Man Abraxas Abyss Abyss is the name of two characters appearing in Ameri ...

is obtuse. The shell is profoundly umbilicated. Its color is white, ornamented with oblique black flammules. The six

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 show a coronal series of tubercles. They are carinated with a nodulose carina. They are channelled below the carina, and spirally bistriate. 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 bicarinate. The base of the shell is concentrically sulcate. 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 subrhomboid, with its upper part smooth. The

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

is arcuate; terminating in two teeth. Characteristics of this species are: the whorls are divided by a nodose keel into a larger convex upper portion and a smaller channelled lower part. A second series of blunt tubercles adorns the upper edge of the whorls along the suture. Below there are slightly elevated striae. The body whorl has the base sharply separated by a second keel. The base is concentrically, rather deeply furrowed, the 6 furrows narrower than the intervening ridges. In the umbilicus, which perforates almost to the apex, all of the whorls are visible, encircled by an acute carina. The aperture is subquadrate, nacreous, smooth within, and has a groove indicating the place of the external keel. The columella is S-shaped, and ends in a blunt tooth, before which there is a small acute denticle. Above, the columellar plate is callous, and covers a small portion of the umbilicus. The pretty markings of the shell consist of oblique, regular wide black streaks, separated by spaces as broad as themselves, on a white ground.Tryon (1889), Manual of Conchology XI, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia
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Distribution

This species occurs in the Pacific Ocean between

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

and Northern

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

References

External links

USNM Invertebrate Zoology Mollusca Collection

World Register of Marine Species
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q7694785 melaleucos Gastropods described in 1844