''Eubela calyx'' 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). . 39 ...

Description

The length of the shell attains 5 mm. (Original description) The shell is decollate and with the aperture imperfect, having evidently the general form of '' Eubela limacina'', but with a slightly more differentiated

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 surface is smooth, polished, with a distinct suture in front of which the fasciole appears as a narrow raised band, with an incised line in front of it and marking its edge. The only other sculpture consists of six or seven sharply incised lines on the siphonal canal near its anterior end . The

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 the base are full and rounded. The incremental lines are visible but faint. The color of the shell is yellowish white with about ten spiral bands of alternate whitish and reddish brown rectangles on 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 ...

arranged like the squares on a checkerboard, except that, the white rectangles being longer than the brown ones and the latter being symmetrically arranged. The angles of the brown rectangles in one line do not generally connect with those of the lines in front and behind it. On the curve of the base the rectangles are drawn somewhat lozenge-shaped. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College vol. 18 (1889)
This specimen is but a fragment, yet its characters are so remarkable that a much smaller fragment would be recognizable at once, so the author decided to name it.

Distribution

This marine species was found at a depth of 227 m off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, USA.

References

External links

*
W.H. Dall (1889) A preliminary catalogue of the shell-bearing marine mollusks and brachiopods of the southeastern coast of the United States, with illustrations of many of the species; Bulletin of the United States National Museum; no. 37
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eubela Calyx

calyx Calyx or calyce (plural "calyces"), from the Latin ''calix'' which itself comes from the Ancient Greek ''κάλυξ'' (''kálux'') meaning "husk" or "pod", may refer to: Biology * Calyx (anatomy), collective name for several cup-like structures ...

Gastropods described in 1889