''Aesopus sanctus'', common name the Santa Monica dovesnail, 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 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 length of the shell attains 4.3 mm, its diameter 1.6 mm.
(Original description) The shell is small and light pinkish-brown, with just under five
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. One of these whorls forms a globose, smooth
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 ...
. The suture is distinct. The whorls are moderately convex. The
aperture is simple and short. The
columella is smooth, twisted, and shorter than the outer
lip. The entire surface of the shell is minutely and evenly striated in a spiral pattern.
Distribution
This marine species occurs off
San Pedro, Los Angeles County, California, to
Gulf of California, Mexico, in subtidal waters to 60 mm; also off
Panama.
Fossils have been found in Late/Upper
Pleistocene strata in California (0.12900 to 0.01170 Ma).
References
External links
deMaintenon M.J. (2019). The columbellid species of the northeast Pacific coast from the Aleutian Islands to Cedros Island, Baja California (Neogastropoda: Columbellidae). Zoosymposia. 13: 160-183Biolib.cz: image
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3740347
sanctus
Gastropods described in 1919