''Austrodrillia subplicata'' 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

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

Turridae Turridae is a taxonomic family name for a number of predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea. MolluscaBase (2018). Turridae H. Adams & A. Adams, 1853 (1838). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Specie ...

Description

The length of the shell attains 7 mm, its diameter is 3 mm. (Original description) The short, solid shell is narrowly oval, with a blunt apex and a slightly contracted base. 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 ...

consists of two smooth, slightly convex

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. The four whorls of the spire are sloping scarcely convex. The sutures are linear. The aperture is oval, slightly contracted behind, opening widely into a very 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 ...

in front. The outer lip is simple; with a shallow, round sinus near the suture, a convex profile, and a very faint sinus anteriorly. The inner lip shows a complete, applied narrow glaze. The columella is straight and slightly bent to the left in the siphonal canal. There are faint oblique axial ribs, equal to the interspaces. The shell shows well-marked crowded sinuous incremental striae. There is no spiral sculpture. The colour of the shell is light brown, with a band of lighter colour on the middle of the spire-whorls, whitish where it crosses the ribs. There are three light bands on 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 ...

.Verco, J.C. 1909. ''Notes on South Australian marine Mollusca with descriptions of new species. Part XII.'' Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 33: 300
(described as ''Drillia subplicata'')

Distribution

This marine species is endemic to Australia and occurs off South Australia.

References

* Hedley, C. 1922. "A revision of the Australian Turridae". ''Records of the Australian Museum'' 13(6): 213–359, pls 42–56 * Wells, F.E. 1990. "Revision of the recent Australian Turridae referred to the genera Splendrillia and Austrodrillia". ''Journal of the Malacological Society of Australasia'' 11: 73–117 * 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:Austrodrillia Subplicata subplicata Gastropods of Australia