''Aesopus obesus'', common name the fat dovesnail, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of 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 the appropriate s ...

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 ...

mollusc 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 esti ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Columbellidae The Columbellidae, the dove snails or dove shells, are a family of minute to small sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the order Neogastropoda.Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S. (2010). Columbellidae. In: Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S.; Rosenberg, G. (2010) Wo ...

, the dove snails.

Description

The size of an adult shell varies between 5 mm and 14 mm. (Original description in Latin) The smotth shell is obese and awl-shaped. It is white, adorned with pale longitudinal brown spots. It features a few subrounded

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, 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 ...

biseriately spotted. 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 obsoletely folded. 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 opt ...

is oblong, and the columella is truncated. (Described as ''Columbella acus'') The shell is narrowly elongated. It features minutely ribbed longitudinal patterns towards the apex. Its color is yellowish, irregularly streaked with orange-brown. The

s are rather flattened. The

is very small, and the columella is slightly excavated and truncated. The outer lip is simple and scarcely denticulated within. Reeve, L. A. (1858–1859). Monograph of the Genus Columbella. In: Conchologia Iconica, or, illustrations of the shells of molluscous animals, vol. 11, pl. 1-37 and unpaginated text. L. Reeve & Co., London.

Distribution

This species occurs in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

and the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc betwe ...

; in the Pacific Ocean from

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

in the Atlantic Ocean.

References

* Monsecour K. & Monsecour D. (2007) ''The Aesopus (Lavesopus) spiculus species complex in the tropical Indo-Pacific (Mollusca, Caenogastropoda, Columbellidae)''. Visaya 2(2): 57–61. ovember 2007* Monsecour K. (2010). ''Checklist of Columbellidae''

External links

Reeve, L. A. (1860-1861). Monograph of the genus Terebra. In: Conchologia Iconica, or, illustrations of the shells of molluscous animals, vol. 12, pl. 1-27 and unpaginated text. L. Reeve & Co., London.
*
Dall, W. H. (1912). New Californian Mollusca. The Nautilus. 25(11): 127-129
obesus Gastropods described in 1844 {{Columbellidae-stub