''Antimelatoma buchanani'' is a species of predatory

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 Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

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

Pseudomelatomidae Pseudomelatomidae is a family of predatory sea snails, marine gastropods included in the superfamily Conoidea (previously Conacea) and part of the Neogastropoda ( Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005). In 1995 Kantor elevated the subfamily Pseudomelatomina ...

.Bouchet, P. (2011). Antimelatoma buchanani (Hutton, 1873). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=578787 on 2012-01-14

Description

The length of the shell attains 20 mm, its diameter 6 mm. (Original description) The fusiform shell is elongated. The spire is acute. 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 floral ...

s are carinated, with fine spiral lines, and obliquely plicated anteriorly. The posterior part is smooth, concave, with a slight ridge at the suture. The aperture is oval. The

siphonal canal The siphonal canal is an anatomical feature of the shells of certain groups of sea snails within the clade Neogastropoda. Some sea marine gastropods have a soft tubular anterior extension of the mantle called a siphon through which water is ...

produced. 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 ...

is longer than the spire.Hutton F. W. 1873. ''Catalogue of the Tertiary Mollusca and Echinodermata of New Zealand, in the collection of the Colonial Museum''. Didsbury, Government Printer, Wellington. xvi + 48 pp
/ref> The shell is elongate -fusiform. The whorls are obliquely longitudinally plaited, and show fine spiral ribs below the sinus area. Above the sinus area smooth, concave, with a slight ridge at the suture. Between 11 and 15 longitudinal plications on a whorl. The aperture is oval. The siphonal canal is produced, rather bent. The protoconch is composed of two oblique smooth turns, the anterior portion having four deep spiral sulci, cutting through the small longitudinal costae of the brephic stage, into which the protoconch imperceptibly passes. Harris, George Frederick, and G. M. Woodward. "Catalogue of Tertiary Mollusca in the Department of Geology, British Museum (Natural History). Part 1. The Australasian Tertiary Mollusca." (1897).
/ref>

Distribution

This marine species is endemic to New Zealand and occurs off Northland to East Cape Fossils have been found in Pliocene strata in New Zealand.

References

* Powell A. W. B., ''New Zealand Mollusca'', William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 * * Beu, A.G. 2011: ''Marine Mollusca of isotope stages of the last 2 million years in New Zealand. Part 4. Gastropoda (Ptenoglossa, Neogastropoda, Heterobranchia),'' Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 41 * Spencer, H.G., Marshall, B.A. & Willan, R.C. (2009). ''Checklist of New Zealand living Mollusca''. pp 196–219. in: Gordon, D.P. (ed.) New Zealand inventory of biodiversity. Volume one. Kingdom Animalia: Radiata, Lophotrochozoa, Deuterostomia. Canterbury University Press, Christchurch

External links

Spencer H.G., Willan R.C., Marshall B.A. & Murray T.J. (2011) Checklist of the Recent Mollusca Recorded from the New Zealand Exclusive Economic Zone

External links

*
Spencer H.G., Willan R.C., Marshall B.A. & Murray T.J. (2011). Checklist of the Recent Mollusca Recorded from the New Zealand Exclusive Economic Zone
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3172338 buchanani Gastropods of New Zealand Gastropods described in 1873