''Funa theoreta'' 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

Pseudomelatomidae Pseudomelatomidae is a family of predatory sea snails, marine gastropods included in the superfamily Conoidea (previously Conacea) and part of the Neogastropoda ( Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005). In 1995 Kantor elevated the subfamily Pseudomelatomina ...

, the turrids and allies.MolluscaBase (2018). Funa theoreta (Melvill, 1899). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=550089 on 12 September 2018

Description

The length of the shell varies between 15 mm and 22 mm. (Original description) The fusiform shell contains ten to eleven

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 apical 1½ whorls being glassy and globular, the remainder are strongly longitudinally ribbed. The ribs number ten round 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 aperture is ovate-oblong, within purplish fuscous. The outer lip is not much thickened. The sinus is wide. The columella is straight. 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 shortly produced. The several examples show no variation in sculpture, but some in coloration and size. The albino variety is smaller and unicolorous, being of a pale ochreous externally, with white aperture. The normal state exhibits a purplish suffusion both externally and within, and scattered dots and maculations along the spiral lirae which surround the shell, especially prominent on the ribs of the body whorl.Melvill J.C. 1899. Notes on the Mollusca of the Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, mostly dredged by Mr F. W. Townsend, with descriptions of twenty-seven species. ; The Annals and Magazine of Natural History, vol. 4 , s. 7; London, 1899

Description

Distribution

References

External links