''Zetela textilis'' is a small deepwater

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 ...

Solariellidae.Rosenberg, G. (2012). ''Zetela textilis'' (Murdoch & Suter, 1906). 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=598242 on 2012-12-03

Description

The length of the shell attains 3.6 mm. (Original description) The small shell is conoidal, widely umbilicate, fragile and exquisitely sculptured.

Sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

: There are numerous radiate sharp riblets at regular intervals, the interspaces about twice the breadth of the coribs, crossing over broad rounded spiral cords. On the third

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 ...

there are three spirals, which are supplemented on the following whorl by a faint thread below the suture, and one between the first and second cord. On 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 ...

there are two rather inconspicuous spiral threads below the suture, followed to the periphery by five strong spiral cords, the last three more prominent than the others. On the base there are five narrow equal and close-set spiral riblets, and the umbilicus is margined by a stout beaded ridge. All the spiral cords are strongly and sharply beaded by the longitudinal sculpture. The colour is greyish- white. 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. Spire ...

is conoidal, with a rounded

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 ...

. 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 " ...

is globular, small, smooth and consists of one whorl. The succeeding whorls show already distinct radiate riblets and spiral threads. The shell contains 4½ whorls, tabulate above, flatly convex below the angulation of the shoulder. The base is slightly convex. The suture is canaliculate. 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 subcircular, angled above, white and not nacreous inside. The outer

lip The lips are a horizontal pair of soft appendages attached to the jaws and are the most visible part of the mouth of many animals, including humans. Mammal lips are soft, movable and serve to facilitate the ingestion of food (e.g. sucklin ...

is sharp, convex, margined by denticles on the outside, produced by the spiral ridges. The inner lip spreads as a thin callosity over the penultimate whorl and connects the margins. 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 regularly arched, sharp. The umbilicus is wide, scalar, and margined by a strong beaded cord followed by two spiral ridges, beaded by longitudinal riblets.Murdoch, R.; Suter, H. (1906). Results of dredging on the continental shelf of New Zealand. Transactions of the New Zealand Institute. 38: 278-305
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Distribution

This marine species is endemic to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and occurs off the

Great Barrier Island Great Barrier Island () lies in the outer Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand, north-east of central Auckland. With an area of it is the sixth-largest List of islands of New Zealand, island of New Zealand. Its highest point, Mount Hobson, Great Barrier ...

and

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

east coast from North Cape to Cape Kidnappers at a depths between 120 mm and 380 m.

References

* Powell A. W. B., ''New Zealand Mollusca'', William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 * Spencer, H.G.; Marshall, B.A.; Maxwell, P.A.; Grant-Mackie, J.A.; Stilwell, J.D.; Willan, R.C.; Campbell, H.J.; Crampton, J.S.; Henderson, R.A.; Bradshaw, M.A.; Waterhouse, J.B.; Pojeta, J. Jr (2009). ''Phylum Mollusca: chitons, clams, tusk shells, snails, squids, and kin'', in: Gordon, D.P. (Ed.) (2009). New Zealand inventory of biodiversity: 1. Kingdom Animalia: Radiata, Lophotrochozoa, Deuterostomia. pp. 161–254

External links

Marshall, B.A. 1999: ''A revision of the Recent Solariellinae (Gastropoda: Trochoidea) of the New Zealand region''. The Nautilus 113: 4-42

Biodiversity Heritage Library (1 publication)

World Register of Marine Species
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3731745 textilis Gastropods described in 1906 Gastropods of New Zealand