''Thatcheria mirabilis'', common name the Japanese wonder shell or Miraculous thatcheria 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). . 39 ...

Description

The length of the shell varies between 70 mm and 120 mm. (Original description) The solid shell is angularly pyriform and yellowish white. The spire is elevated and acuminate towards the apex. It contains 8

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, flattened, and slightly excavated above, strongly and prominently keeled at the periphery, and sloping inwards below. Above the keels they are finely arcuately striate, below irregularly more or less crenately concentrically ridged. The aperture is triangularly subquadrate, pure white, and shining within. The white columella is smooth, slightly arcuate above, nearly straight below. The outer lip shows a broad excavated sinus extending from its juncture with 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 ...

to the extremity of the last keel. Below the keel, which is very prominent, the lip is simple and arcuate. Angas G.F. (1877). ''Descriptions of a new genus of gasteropodous Mollusca from Japan, and of a new species of Bullia from Kurachi''. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. (1877): 529-530, pl. 54

Distribution

This marine species occurs in the Indo-West Pacific and also off

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and Western Australia; also as fossils, range: Upper Miocene to

Recent The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene together ...

(mainly Pliocene)

References

* Kuroda, T. & Habe, T. 1954. ''New genera of Japanese marine gastropods.'' Venus 18(2): 84-97, text figs 1-20 * Powell, A.W.B. 1966. T''he molluscan families Speightiidae and Turridae, an evaluation of the valid taxa, both Recent and fossil, with list of characteristic species.'' Bulletin of the Auckland Institute and Museum. Auckland, New Zealand 5: 1–184, pls 1–23 * Powell, A.W.B. 1968. ''The turrid shellfish of Australian waters.'' Australian Natural History 1 16: 1–6 * Rosenberg, G. 1992. Encyclopedia of Seashells. Dorset: New York. 224 pp. * Wilson, B. 1994. ''Australian marine shells. Prosobranch gastropods.'' Kallaroo, WA : Odyssey Publishing Vol. 2 370 pp.

External links

*
Gastropods.com: ''Thatcheria mirabilis''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thatcheria Mirabilis mirabilis Gastropods described in 1877