''Danilia tinei'' 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 ...

Chilodontidae.

Taxonomy

Monterosato (1914) figured the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

from Calcara's collection and distinguished as separate species the fossil ''

Danilia otaviana ''Danilia otaviana'' is an extinct species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Chilodontidae. This species was described by Cantraine after a fossil shell he had found in Messina, Italy. Description The size of the shell v ...

'' (Cantraine, 1835) and the two Recent ''Danilia tinei'' and ''Danilia horrida'' (Costa, 1861) = ''costellata'' (Costa, 1861), followed in this by Palazzi & Villari (2001). The fossil species is quite convincingly distinguished by a globose shape and much finer sculpture in which the spiral elements clearly dominate. The holotype of D. tinei is also globose but has a coarse sculpture with nodose cords, whereas the common form (including that on photographs herein) should go to ''Danilia costellata'' if two species are really to be separated. This is a topic that requires further research.

Description

The size of the shell varies between 7 mm and 10 mm. The imperforate, solid, light brown shell has a conoidal shape with a rounded

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 ...

and base. Its elevated

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 ...

contains 6–7 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, separated by deep sutures. The first whorl is planorboid and smooth. The next one is lightly rib-striate. The remainder whorls are clathrate, encircled bv strong spiral lirae, crossed by elevated, lamellar, regular, vertical striae. There are 3 or 4 spirals on the penultimate whorl, 9 on the body whorl. The body whorl is rounded, with a strong, prominent varix behind 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 ...

. 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 rounded, thickened within and a little expanded, a trifle iridescent. 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 short, vertical with a fold above at the insertion and a strong foldlike tooth below, separated from the plicate basal lip by a deep, narrow, notch.Tryon (1889), Manual of Conchology XI, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia
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Distribution

This species occurs in the Mediterranean Sea; in the Atlantic Ocean off the

Faroes The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway betw ...

; Western

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

and Western

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Monterosato T. A. (di) (1914 (30 giugno)). Sur le genre Danilia. Journal de Conchyliologie 61 (4): 381–384, pl. IX * Vilvens C. & Héros V. 2005. ''New species and new records of Danilia (Gastropoda: Chilodontidae) from the Western Pacific''. Novapex 6(3) : 53–64

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Danilia Tinei tinei Gastropods described in 1839