''Gymnobela leptoglypta'' 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 4.5 mm. The somewhat thin shell has a well-elevated spire. Its color is white with 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 ...

stained with brown. The shell contains six evenly rounded

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, four being apical. The apical whorls (in a worn state) are reticulate, and the residue of the shell is sculptured with longitudinal ribs, which fade out on the lower half of the whorls. There are also numerous rounded spirals cutting the ribs. Below the suture there is an excavated area, showing spirals and also arcuate striae, more numerous than the ribs. The columella is fairly straight. The aperture is ovate. Sykes E. R. 1906. On the Mollusca procured during the "Porcupine" Expeditions 1869-1870. Supplemental notes, part III. Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London 7: 173-190, pl. 16
described as ''Pleurotomella gregaria'')

Distribution

This marine species occurs off the Azores and in the Rockall Trough.

References

* Gofas, S.; Le Renard, J.; Bouchet, P. (2001). Mollusca. in: Costello, M.J. et al. (eds), European Register of Marine Species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Patrimoines Naturels. 50: 180-213

External links

P. & Fischer H. (1896). Dragages effectués par l'Hirondelle et par la Princesse Alice 1888-1895. 1. Mollusques Gastéropodes. Mémoires de la Société Zoologique de France. 395-498, pl. 15-22
//biodiversitylibrary.org/page/10117292]
Bouchet & Warren, Revision of the North-East Atlantic bathyal and abyssal Turridae (Mollusca, Gastropoda); The Journal of Molluscan Studies, supplement 8, December 1980
* Gymnobela, leptoglypta Gastropods described in 1896 {{Gymnobela-stub