''Danilia weberi'' 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. The species was named after dr.

Max Weber Maximilian Karl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German sociologist, historian, jurist and political economist, who is regarded as among the most important theorists of the development of modern Western society. His ideas profo ...

, the Dutch leader of the Siboga Expedition.

Description

(Original description by Schepman) The height of the shell attains 16 mm. The imperforate, thin, shell has a globose-conoidal shape. 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 more or less elevated. The embryonic whorls are wanting. The remaining whorls number about 6,. They are very convex, especially the penultimate and ultimate ones, the upper whorls forming a cone. The colour of the shell is slightly variable, the ground colour is light yellowish-brown, nearly plain or with darker flames and blotches, which are always present on the varix. The majority of the specimens has two or three series of darker spots on the upper

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 and two specimens have a row of large blackish patches near the suture 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 ...

. The shell is covered with a large number of spiral lirae, often with intermediate ones, the number of lirae being about 7 on the penultimate whorl, but amount with the intermediate ones to 15 or 16. They are crossed by numerous riblike striae, producing short spines on the points of intersection, and very fine lines of growth. On the upper whorls the lirae diminish in number, they become nearly obsolete on the uppermore whorls, and disappear at last, leaving only the concentric ribs. The suture is deep, especially between the penultimate and ultimate whorls, on this last the suture descends conspicuously. The periphery of body whorl is rounded, only apparently keeled by the strong peripheral lira. The base of the shell is ornamented by about 12 beaded lirae, with ribbed interstices. The oblique

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-ovate, with a very thin, slightly expanded outer and basal margin, encircled by a strong, compressed, external varix. The margin is thickened interiorly by a rather strong crenulated rib at some distance from the outer rim. The parietal wall is covered by a much expanded, smooth layer, loosened from the body whorl near the place of the wanting umbilicus. 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 very strong and tortuous, thickened above, then slightly attenuated, with a strong square tooth, from which a tortuous rib runs to the left, enclosing a triangular pit and forming a deep sinus between the columella and basal margin. The interior of the aperture is very iridescent, but covered in part in the adult shells, by the porcellaneous internal rib.Schepman 1908–1913, The Prosobranchia of the Siboga Expedition; Leyden,E. J. Brill,1908-13
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Distribution

This marine species occurs off the Sulu Archipelago, Philippines, the Western Pacific and off

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

References

* 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 Weberi weberi Gastropods described in 1908