''Dillwynella aulacophora'' is an extinct 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 Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

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

Skeneidae The Skeneidae are a speciose family of minute to small marine gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Trochoidea.Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S. (2013). Skeneidae. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php ...

. Cossmann (1913), Révision des scaphopodes, gastropodes et céphalopodes du montien de Belgique; Mémoires du Musée Royal d'Histroire Naturelle de Belgique 1913
p. 36

Description

The height of the shell attains 4 mm, its diameter 5 mm. The rather small shell had a trochoid shape. The surface appears smooth and shiny. The depressed spire consists of four or five subangular

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, equipped with a broad groove between the spiral obsolete angle and slightly protruding bead that comes in above the linear and deep suture. In the middle of this groove, there is a small furrow that marks its deepest point. Above the angle, the profile of the whorls is a slightly convex. 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 equal to five-sixths of the total height simply striated. It is marked by oblique growth lines. The periphery is obtusely subangular, non keeled, but rather rounded. The base of the shell is slightly convex and smooth. The aperture is round. The peristome is discontinuous and thin, except in the columellar region that contains a callosity.

Distribution

This marine species was found as a fossil in a coal mine near

Mons Mons (; German and nl, Bergen, ; Walloon and pcd, Mont) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the province of Hainaut, Belgium. Mons was made into a fortified city by Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut in the 12th century. T ...

in Belgium.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q16981358

aulacophora ''Aulacophora'' is a genus of beetles in the family Chrysomelidae, commonly known as pumpkin beetles; some species are pests of agricultural crops. The genus was named in 1836 by the French entomologist Louis Alexandre Auguste Chevrolat, in Deje ...