''Eucithara lepidella'' is a small

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 Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...

in the family

Mangeliidae Mangeliidae is a monophyletic family of small to medium-sized, predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea. Bouchet, P. (2011). Mangeliidae P. Fischer, 1883. In: MolluscaBase (2016). Accessed through: World Regis ...

.WoRMS (2009). Eucithara lepidella (Hervier, 1897). In: MolluscaBase (2017). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=433735 on 2017-05-18

Description

The length of the shell attains 5 mm, its diameter 2.5 mm. The small shell has an oval shape, very shortly turriculated with very short whorls. The color of the shell is a bright opal white, weakly tinted in the middle of the whorls by a yellow strip, more or less interrupted in the interstices of the costae, and repeated three times 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 ...

. The shell is carved with longitudinal costulae and transverse cords. The ribs are raised (numbering 12 in the penultimate whorl), not very thick, leaving between them an interval equal to their width..Starting on a rather impressed suture, they rise a little above it and, rounding off the angle of the whorl, they descend flexuously towards 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 ...

where their form concentric arcs. Very faint striae cover the shell with a lattice above the costulae. The spire contains 6

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 whorls in 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 ...

are rounded, smooth, and with glossy milk white color. The next whorls are well separated by a deep suture. They are flat in their upper part, swollen towards the angle, convex below and strongly decayed at the lower suture. The body whorl, which measures 2/3 of the total height, is convex and regularly attenuated to the base. In its dorsal part, the coloring of the strips becomes more and more accentuated and there are even some extra spots near the suture and the siphonal canal. The

aperture In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. An opt ...

is oblique, rather narrow, and shows a continuous peristome. The columella is slightly folded. The outer lip is thickened both externally and internally, and is angularly arched at the top and has a sharp edge. Inside it is obscurely furnished with very feeble folds. The sinus, situated obliquely a little below the suture, Is rounded, shallowly notched in the thickness of the outer lip.Hervier, J. 1898. ''Descriptions d'espèces nouvelles de Mollusques provenant de l'Archipel de la Nouvelle-Calédonie.'' Journal de Conchyliologie 45: 165-195, 249-266, pls 7-8
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Distribution

This marine species occurs off

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

, the Loyalty Islands, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

References

External links

Tucker, J.K. 2004 ''Catalog of recent and fossil turrids (Mollusca: Gastropoda)''. Zootaxa 682:1-1295.
*
Virginie, et al. "Mollusca of New Caledonia." Compendium of marine species of New Caledonia. Documents Scientifiques et Techniques II7, 2nd edn. IRD, Nouméa (2007): 199-254
{{Taxonbar, from=Q10278039 lepidella Gastropods described in 1897