''Eucithara subglobosa'' 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 in the family Mangeliidae.WoRMS (2009). Eucithara subglobosa (Hervier, 1897). In: MolluscaBase (2017). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=433762 on 2017-05-24

Description

The length of the shell attains 6 mm, its diameter 3.5 mm. The small shell is remarkable for its oval subglobulous shape, with a convex very short spire, briefly acuminate The coloring is of a bright hyaline white, embellished with a very narrow yellow band, situated a little above the lower suture. The spire has a crystalline aspect. It is rather strongly thickened, very finely striated throughout its length, adorned with longitudinal ribs. These are flexuous, low, numerous, and form, at their enlarged base. continuous concentric arcs . Small, decurrent, regular, numerous lirae, traverse 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 surmount the ribs and undulate in their interstices over the entire surface. The shell contains 6 to 7 (?) whorls (the fractured top in the received specimen shows only 5½ whorls). The first two whorls are rounded. The rest are convex, separated by a linear, undulating, somewhat thickened suture. 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 ...

which exceeds 2/3 of the total height, is globular in its upper part, attenuating slightly below its middle to end with an elongation in a very short

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 aperture is oblique, narrow and has a continuous peristome. The columella, concave in its upper part, is coated with an enamel whose edge rises in a blunt crest. Starting at this ridge, pointing inwards, are 8 folds regularly spaced along the length. The outer lip is convex, strongly thickened; Its sharp edge is not prominent. The folds in the interior protrude in the form of strong denticles. The almost round sinus is dug a little below the suture in the callosity 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
(described as ''Cithara raffini'')

Distribution

This marine species occurs off the Loyalty Islands and Taiwan.

References

External links

Tucker, J.K. 2004 ''Catalog of recent and fossil turrids (Mollusca: Gastropoda)''. Zootaxa 682:1-1295.
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q10278068 subglobosa Gastropods described in 1897