''Bullia vittata'', common name the ribbon bullia, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

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 ...

Nassariidae The Nassariidae, Nassa mud snails (USA), or dog whelks (UK), are a taxonomic family of small to medium-sized sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the clade Neogastropoda. "Dog whelk" also refers to ''Nucella lapillus''. Shell description T ...

, the Nassa mud snails or dog whelks.Gofas, S. (2015). Bullia vittata (Linnaeus, 1767). In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=554883 on 4 May 2016

Description

The shell size varies between 27 mm and 50 mm The elongated shell is conical, and slightly turreted. It is of a bluish or ashy white color. 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 ...

is very pointed at its summit. It is composed of nine or ten slightly convex whorls, united by a shallow suture, and furnished at their upper part with very close small folds or granulations. These folds form a girdle, and crown the whorls, which are again ornamented throughout their whole length with transverse thin ridges, more strongly prominent towards the base. There appear, besides, upon 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 ...

, oblique striae of growth pretty apparent, and presenting sometimes the appearance of varices. One or two striae separate also the folds from the upper marginal edge. 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 oblong, slightly narrowed, dilated at its base, where it is terminated by a very deep and slightly oblique emargination. The interior of the aperture is of a brown fawn color. The outer

lip The lips are the visible body part at the mouth of many animals, including humans. Lips are soft, movable, and serve as the opening for food intake and in the articulation of sound and speech. Human lips are a tactile sensory organ, and can be ...

is white, thin and sharp. The

columella Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (; Arabic: , 4 – ) was a prominent writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire. His ' in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture, together with the wo ...

is white and rounded.Kiener (1840). General species and iconography of recent shells : comprising the Massena Museum, the collection of Lamarck, the collection of the Museum of Natural History, and the recent discoveries of travellers; Boston :W.D. Ticknor,1837
(described as ''Buccinum vittatum'')

Distribution

This species is found off

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

and

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

References

Allmon W.D., 1990 [12 December]. ''Review of the Bullia group (Gastropoda: Nassariidae) with comments on its evolution, biogeography, and phylogeny.'' Bulletins of American Paleontology 99(335): 179 pp., 15 pls.

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q13446509 Nassariidae Gastropods described in 1767 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus