''Cheungbeia mindanensis'', common name the Kawamura's turrid, 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

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 ...

, the turrids and allies.

Description

The length of the shell attains 40 mm. The elongate, ovate-fusiform shell is turreted. The dark white shell has a red band around the suture. It contains 12

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 of which three, smooth and convex whorls in 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 ...

. The consequent whorls protrude slightly, angular in the middle and slightly concave below. The ribs (13 in the penultimate whorls but becoming obsolete towards the base) in this species are flexuous and very oblique and continuous up the spire. But whether this latter be a constant character the author cannot say, as but a single example is at hand. The obtuse angulation of 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 ...

at the periphery gives it a squarish aspect. The length of the aperture measures 3/7 of the total length. The outer lip is sharp and crenate at the margin. The columella is slightly twisted and tubercled at the top. The

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 slightly recurved.Smith E.A. (1877). Diagnoses of new species of Pleurotomidae in the British Museum. Annals and Magazine of Natural History. ser. 4, 19: 488–501
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Distribution

This marine species occurs off the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan.

References

* Liu J.Y. uiyu(ed.). (2008). ''Checklist of marine biota of China seas''. China Science Press. 1267 pp * Leung KF. & Morton B. (2003). Effects of long-term anthropogenic perturbations on three subtidal epibenthic molluscan communities in Hong Kong. In: Morton B, editor. Proceedings of an International Workshop Reunion Conference, Hong Kong: Perspectives on Marine Environment Change in Hong Kong and Southern China, 1977–2001. Hong Kong University Press, Hong Kong. pp 655–717

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheungbeia Mindanensis mindanensis Gastropods described in 1877