''Gaza daedala'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of sea snail, a marine gastropod

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 Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Margaritidae Margaritidae is a family of small sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Trochoidea (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005).Bouchet, P. (2012). Margaritidae. Accessed through: World Register ...

.Rosenberg, G. (2012). ''Gaza daedala'' Watson, 1879. Accessed through:

World Register of Marine Species The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive list of names of marine organisms. Content The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scientific specialis ...

at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=594177 on 2012-12-03

Distribution

This marine species occurs in the Pacific Ocean off Fiji at a depth of 1100 m.

Description

(Original description by Watson) The height of the shell attains 20.6 mm, its diameter 17 mm. The thin shell has a depressedly globose shape with a convexly conical

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires a ...

. It is translucent, horny, nacreous in its whole texture, and iridescent on the surface. It has a slightly reverted and narrowly thickened

lip The lips are the visible body part at the mouth of many animals, including humans. Lips are soft, movable, and serve as the opening for food intake and in the articulation of sound and speech. Human lips are a tactile sensory organ, and can be ...

and a thin edged twisted

columella Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (; Arabic: , 4 – ) was a prominent writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire. His ' in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture, together with the wo ...

, the point of which runs out into a bluntly mucronated angle.

Sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

: Longitudinals—the whole surface is covered with strong, puckered, oblique lines of growth, which are sharp-edged but flattened,. They are rather regular, with many minuter ones in the intervals. The longitudinals are crosshatched with spirals, which are stronger and more regular, but not perfectly uniform. They consist of square threads and furrows of equal breadth, and both scored by the longitudinals. On the earlier whorls these spirals disappear before the longitudinals do. And on the base of the shell they become on the outside feebler, closer, and finer, in the middle broader and flatter, and stronger again toward the centre of the shell. The colorof the shell is delicate yellowish, with a horny translucency and exquisite iridescence, which under the lens appears brilliant. The

is high and slightly scalar. The

apex The apex is the highest point of something. The word may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional entities * Apex (comics), a teenaged super villainess in the Marvel Universe * Ape-X, a super-intelligent ape in the Squadron Supreme universe *Apex, ...

is very small, flatly rounded, the embryonic 1½ whorl very slightly projecting. The seven whorls increase gradually. They are well rounded, the last slightly angulated below, and on the base flattened, but rather less so towards 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 ...

, where there is a slight contraction and downward turning of the whole whorl, without, however, any descending of the

at its junction with the body. The suture is very distinct, but not impressed. The aperture is rather large, very oblique, semioval. The outer lip is reflected and thickened internally by a strong but narrow, equal, rounded, white pearly callus, which almost disappears just at the upper corner, and which has a very slight furrow round its margin. It does not descend at all. Inner lip—from the corner of the outer lip a very thin layer of nacre spreads out a little way across the body, but then ceases entirely. The columella is spread out at its base as a confined, flattened, unevenly inclined, semicircular, iridescent umbilical pad. From the left corner of which the columella proper projects, it has a narrow but rounded edge, twisted, straight, bending to the left, and advances into a sharply angulated, and, as seen from behind, even mucronated junction with the basal aperture edge, to which the umbilical pad curving round the back of the pillar also attains. The inside is scored with the external sculpture, and is brilliantly iridescent. The umbilical pad is defined by a narrow furrow, and in front by a slightly tumid ridge, which is the least nacreous part of the whole shell. The operculum is membranaceous, horny, yellowish, with about six to seven turns, each strongly defined by a narrow line of thickening, and sharply scored with minute oblique radiating lines.Tryon (1889), Manual of Conchology XI, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia
/ref>

References

External links

Luiz Ricardo L. Simone & Carlo M. Cunha, ''Revision of genera Gaza and Callogaza (Vetigastropoda, Trochidae), with description of a new Brazilian species''; Zootaxa1318: 1–40 (2006)
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5528982 Margaritidae Gastropods described in 1879