''Elaeocyma attalia'' 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 ...

.Dall (1919) Descriptions of new species of Mollusca from the North Pacific Ocean; Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum, vol. 56 (1920)
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Description

The shell grows to a length of 8.5 mm, its diameter 3 mm. (Original description) The small shell is slender and acute. The color of the shell is white and polished. It contains eight flattish

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 exclusive of the (lost)

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 ...

. The suture is obscure and appressed. The fasciole (a band of minute tubercles) is immediately adjacent, rather wide, and constricted. The spiral sculpture consists of a few incised lines on the base and threads on 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 ...

. The axial sculpture consists of (on the penultimate whorl about fourteen) low feeble ribs, almost knoblike, stronger on the earlier whorls, but which do not reach the base or cross the anal fasciole and which disappear on the last half 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 ...

where there is a moundlike

varix A varix (pl. varices) is an abnormally dilated vessel with a tortuous course. Varices usually occur in the venous system, but may also occur in arterial or lymphatic vessels. Examples of varices include: * Varicose veins, large tortuous veins usua ...

and traces of a yellowish spot. The aperture is small. The

anal sulcus The anal sulcus, also called the anal sinus or anal canal, in Gastropods is a notch, a shelly tube at the top of the aperture In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and fo ...

is deep, with a subsutural callus. The outer lip is thin, sharp and arcuately produced. The inner lip and columella show a thin layer of enamel. The columella is short. The siphonal canal is very short and hardly differentiated from the aperture.

Distribution

This marine species occurs in the demersal zone of the Pacific coast of Western Mexico

References

External links

Tucker, J.K. 2004 ''Catalog of recent and fossil turrids (Mollusca: Gastropoda)''. Zootaxa 682:1–1295
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elaeocyma Attalia attalia Gastropods described in 1919