''Zemacies excelsa'' 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 ...

Borsoniidae Borsoniidae is a monophyletic family of small to medium-sized sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea.Bouchet, P. (2011). Borsoniidae. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.or ...

Description

The shell grows to a length of 55 mm. Individuals can grow to 58.2mm and can have a wet body mass of 24.5g. Dead ''Zemacies excelsa'' form shallow marine

sediments Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sand a ...

Distribution

This species occurs in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

off New Caledonia and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

References

* Sysoev, A. & Bouchet, P., 2001. ''New and uncommon turriform gastropods (Gastropoda: Conoidea) from the south-west Pacific''. Mémoires du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle 185: 271–320

External links

*
MNHN, Paris: ''Zemacies excelsa'' (holotype)
excelsa Gastropods described in 2001 Molluscs of the Pacific Ocean {{Borsoniidae-stub