''Micrelenchus tenebrosus'' 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
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 ...
mollusk in the
family Trochidae, the top snails.
[MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Micrelenchus tenebrosus (A. Adams, 1853). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=724125 on 2020-07-26]
Description
The shell grows to a length of 6 mm . The solid, conical shell is elevated, imperforate, and rather thick. Its color is dark bluish-black, or with a purple shade. The
spire is conoidal. The
sutures are slightly impressed. The
apex is somewhat obtuse, a trifle eroded and whitish at the tip. The six
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 very slightly convex, those of the spire encircled by about seven lirae of about the same width as their interstices. 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 very bluntly subangular at the periphery, with about 20 spiral lirae, and fine delicate growth lines. The
aperture is rounded-quadrate, oblique, less than ½ the total length of the shell. The
outer lip is very narrowly black-edged. It isbordered by a series of short fine sulcations, beyond which there is a porcellaneous thickening. The throat is nacreous, iridescent, the reflections mainly green. The
columella is subvertical, a trifle arcuate, rounded and pillar-like, covering the
umbilicus above. The
parietal wall has a thin whitish callus. The upper angle of the
aperture is angular and slightly channeled.
G.W. Tryon (1889), Manual of Conchology XI p. 123
/ref>
Distribution
This marine species is endemic to New Zealand and occurs off North Island, South and Stewart Island
References
* Powell, A.W.B. 1946. New species of New Zealand Mollusca from the South Island, Stewart Island and Chatham Islands. Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum 3: 137-144
* Powell, A.W.B. 1979: ''New Zealand Mollusca: Marine, Land and Freshwater Shells''. Collins, Auckland 500p (p. 57)
* Marshall, B.A. 1998: ''The New Zealand Recent species of Cantharidus Montfort, 1810 and Micrelenchus Finlay, 1926 (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Trochidae).'' Molluscan Research 19: 107-156 (p. 125)
* 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
To World Register of Marine Species
*
Adams A. (1853 ("1851")). Contributions towards a monograph of the Trochidæ, a family of gasteropodous Mollusca. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 19: 150-192
Tenison Woods, J. E. (1877). On some new Tasmanian marine shells. (Second series). Papers and Proceedings and Report of the Royal Society of Tasmania. (1876): 131-159
Fischer P. (1873-1879). [continuation of Kiener] Spécies général et iconographie des coquilles vivantes. Volume 10, Famille des Turbinacées. Genre Turbo (Turbo), pp. i-iv + 1-128 (1873), pls 1, 28, 44-49, 53-54, 57-120. Volume 11, Genres Troque (Trochus, including Calcar), pp. 1–96, pls 37-86 (1875); 97-144 (1876); 145-240 (1877); 241-336 (1878); 337-423, Xenophora pp. 424–450, Tectarius pp. 451–459, Risella pp. 460–463, Index 464-480 (1879).
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3137881
tenebrosus
Gastropods described in 1853