''Conopleura latiaxisa'' 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

Drilliidae The Drilliidae are a Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic family (biology), family of small predatory sea snails with high-spired shells. They are classified as marine (ocean), marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea. This family has no s ...

Description

Its shell is relatively small for the genus, around 11 mm in length, slender shaped, thick, solid and semi-fusiform, early 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 elate, acuminate spire, well swollen periphery. 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 half of the shell length, with a

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 ...

of about 1.5 whorls. The teleoconch consists of around 5 to 6 convex whorls with a tall spire. Narrow axial ribs reach from suture to suture.

Distribution

The species is only known from the type locality, which is situated between 180 and 250 m deep, near Mactan Island, Cebu, the Philippines.

Habitat

The species lives on sandy mud with small gravel.

Etymology

The word "''latiaxisa''" refers to the particular characteristics of trigonal spines, which reminds one of the genus ''

Latiaxis ''Latiaxis'' is a genus of medium-sized sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Muricidae, subfamily Coralliophilinae, the coral snails or coral shells. Species Species within the genus ''Latiaxis'' include: * ''Latiaxis bernardi ...

'' in the subfamily Coralliophiliinae in the Muricidae.

References

External links

*
Nappo A., Rey X., Pellegrinii D., Bonomolo G., & Crocetta F., 2018 - Revisiting the disjunct distribution of Conopleura Hinds, 1844. Zootaxa 4392 (3)
latiaxisa Gastropods described in 2011 Molluscs of the Philippines {{drilliidae-stub