''Austrocarina recta'' is a species of small

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

Horaiclavidae Horaiclavidae is a family of predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea. In 2011 this family was split off from the family Pseudomelatomidae (formerly the subfamily Crassispirinae McLean, 1971) by Bouchet P., Ka ...

. It was formerly included within 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 ...

Description

The length of the shell attains 6 mm, its diameter 2.5 mm. (Original description) The thin, tall and narrow shell has a pagodiform shape. 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 ...

has a median cylindrical area, angled above and below. The keel along the lower angle is buried by the suture of the following whorl, that along the upper angle projects more and ascends the spire to 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 ...

, where it suddenly ceases. Above the upper keel the whorl slopes to the suture, below the lower the base is concavely excavated. The colour of the shell is pale yellow. It contains four

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, plus the protoconch. These whorls are wound obliquely..The topmost whorl is undulated by about sixteen broad radial ribs, which disappear on the next whorl. Fine and coarse spiral threads alternate over the whole surface, and are crossed by fine growth lines. The protoconch is exsert, white, smooth and two-whorled. The aperture is broad. The outer lip is simple. There is no apparent sinus. The short

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 ...

is open and straight. Hedley, C. 1903. Scientific results of the trawling expedition of H.M.C.S. "Thetis" off the coast of New South Wales in February and March, 1898, pt. 6. Memoirs of the Australian Museum 4(1): 326–402
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Distribution

This marine species is endemic to Australia and occurs off New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania and Victoria.

References

* Hedley, C. 1922. ''A revision of the Australian Turridae''. Records of the Australian Museum 13(6): 213–359, pls 42–56 * May, W.L. 1923. ''An Illustrated Index of Tasmanian Shells: with 47 plates and 1052 species''. Hobart : Government Printer 100 pp. * Laseron, C. 1954. ''Revision of the New South Wales Turridae (Mollusca). Australian'' Zoological Handbook. Sydney : Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales 1–56, pls 1–12. * Powell, A.W.B. 1969. ''The family Turridae in the Indo-Pacific. Part. 2. The subfamily Turriculinae''. Indo-Pacific Mollusca 2(10): 207–415, pls 188–324 * Wilson, B. 1994. ''Australian Marine Shells. Prosobranch Gastropods.'' Kallaroo, WA : Odyssey Publishing Vol. 2 370 pp.

External links

Tucker, J.K. 2004 ''Catalog of recent and fossil turrids (Mollusca: Gastropoda)''. Zootaxa 682:1–1295
{{DEFAULTSORT:Austrocarina Recta recta Gastropods of Australia