''Elaeocyma empyrosia'' 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 ...

Description

The shell grows to a length of 31 mm. (Original description) The solid shell has a high acute spire and a polished surface. Its color is yellowish with a burnt sienna brown tint on the later

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. A paler peripheral band develops white patches where it crosses the ribs. The transverse sculpture consists of (about 11) slightly oblique somewhat flexuous ribs, obsolete below the periphery and upon the anal fasciole, the sharpest on the earlier whorls. The spiral sculpture consists of coarse, sometimes nearly obsolete threads, most obvious below the periphery. The shell contains 9 whorls (the nucleus lost in the specimen). The aperture is short, wide, with a deep wide notch leaving a wide fasciole, a callous lump above the notch on the body, and a rather strong whitish callus, externally brown-edged, on the columella. The siphonal notch is wide with a marked fasciole. 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 slightly recurved.Dall, W.H. (1899) ''On a new species of Drillia from California''; The Nautilus v. 12 (1898-1899)
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Distribution

This species occurs in the Eastern Pacific off California.

References

Tucker, J.K. 2004 ''Catalog of recent and fossil turrids (Mollusca: Gastropoda)''. Zootaxa 682:1–1295
* Turgeon, D.; Quinn, J.F.; Bogan, A.E.; Coan, E.V.; Hochberg, F.G.; Lyons, W.G.; Mikkelsen, P.M.; Neves, R.J.; Roper, C.F.E.; Rosenberg, G.; Roth, B.; Scheltema, A.; Thompson, F.G.; Vecchione, M.; Williams, J.D. (1998). ''Common and scientific names of aquatic invertebrates from the United States and Canada: mollusks''. 2nd ed. American Fisheries Society Special Publication, 26. American Fisheries Society: Bethesda, MD (USA). . IX, 526 + cd-rom pp.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Elaeocyma Empyrosia empyrosia Gastropods described in 1899