''Turricula turriplana'' 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 ...

Clavatulidae.

Description

The length of the shell attains 42 mm, its diameter 11mm. The shell is elongately turreted. Its color is light brown, with a whitish band in the middle of the

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. 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 long and acutely turreted. It contains 12 whorls. The first two whorls are smooth, rounded, forming a somewhat prominent white papillary apex. The other whorls are slopingly convex, slightly impressed below the suture, spirally faintly grooved, obliquely obscurely plicated. The body whorl measures about 2.5ths of the entire length of the shell. It is convex above, attenuated towards the base, scarcely rostrate, nearly smooth with spiral grooves (only visible with a lens) that are irregular and broken up. The oblique wrinkles are almost obsolete. 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 rather long and moderately wide. Its interior is tinged with pale pink. The white

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 ...

is rather straight and very slightly flexuose. 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 sharp, with a broad posterior sinus, situated between the angle and the suture.Marine investigations in South Africa / Cape of Good Hope; v.2 (1904)
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Distribution

This marine species occurs off the

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope ( af, Provinsie Kaap die Goeie Hoop), commonly referred to as the Cape Province ( af, Kaapprovinsie) and colloquially as The Cape ( af, Die Kaap), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequen ...

, South Africa.

References

External links

Barnard K.H. 1958. ''Contributions to the knowledge of South African marine Mollusca. Part I. Gastropoda: Prosobranchiata: Toxoglossa.'' Annals of the South African Museum, 44: 73–163, 1 pl.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Turricula Turriplana Endemic molluscs of South Africa turriplana Gastropods described in 1903