''Daphnella thiasotes'' 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

Raphitomidae Raphitomidae is a family of small to medium-sized sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea.Bouchet P. & Rocroi J.-P. (Ed.) (2005). "Classification and nomenclator of gastropod families". '' Malacologia'' 47(1-2). . 3 ...

Description

The length of the shell attains 8 mm, and its diameter 4.25 mm. (Original description) The solid, fusiform shell contains 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. 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 ...

is pitchy black, and the remainder are with bright ochreous tinting. In the younger specimens, transverse shining white rows of large gemmae cross the whorls just above the sutures, and in the middle 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 ...

, below, there are ochre bands. In the body whorl this is followed by two smaller rows of gemmae, and then by a pitch black line reaching from the upper portion of the columellar margin, across the back of the shell, to the base of the outer lip. The more mature shell is conspicuous for the very swollen row of white peripheral nodules, banded below with fulvous colour. The outer lip is slightly incrassate. 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 short. The columellar margin simple. Melvill J.C. & Standen R. (1896) Notes on a collection of shells from Lifu and Uvea, Loyalty Islands, formed by the Rev. James and Mrs. Hadfield, with list of species. Part II. Journal of Conchology 8: 273-315

Distribution

This marine species occurs off the Loyalty Islands and the Mactan Island, Philippines

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Daphnella Thiasotes thiasotes Gastropods described in 1896