''Apaturris expeditionis'' 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 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 e ...

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 ...

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.o ...

Description

(Original description) The shell is broadly fusiform and broadest about the middle 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 equal in length to 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 ...

. The 6½

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 flattened. The suture is impressed. 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 ventricose and regularly tapered in front. The aperture is long, oblique and posteriorly deflected to the right. The acute outer lip is not thin. The sinus is near the suture, deep and shows a thick rim. The thin inner lip is broad. The columella is flattened, and has two obscure plications near the middle. The canal is short, wide and truncate in front. Sculpture: The 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 ...

consists of 1½ whorls. The first adult whorl has 2 spiral threads on the periphery, 2nd with 10 sinuous axial ridges overridden by fine spiral threads. The succeeding two whorls are similarly sculptured, the axial ridges and spiral threads being more numerous. The body whorl shows low axial ridges, sinuous near the suture and becoming obsolete at the periphery, the whole overridden by close regular spiral threads. Colour : Dark buff, a faint purple spiral band on the lower edge of the spire whorls. On the bodv whorl are sinuous brown marks near the suture. Height, 5–2 mm. Diameter, 2–2 mm. Variations from type. – The colour varies from white to buff, most shells being ornamented with a few irregular brown marks. Habitat. – Dead shells dredged in 10 m. to 30 m. on gravelly bottom off Sunday Island.

Distribution

This marine species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to New Zealand and occurs off the Kermadec Islands in gravel at depths between 31 m and 47 m.F.J. Brook, The coastal molluscan fauna of the northern Kermadec Islands, Southwest Pacific Ocean; Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 28:2, 185-233
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References

External links

Tom Iredale (1917), ''More Molluscan Name-Changes, Generic and Specific''; Oxford Journals Science & Mathematics Journal of Molluscan Studies Volume 12, Issue 6 Pp. 322-330

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''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Apaturris Expeditionis Apaturris Gastropods described in 1915 Gastropods of New Zealand