''Haplocochlias bellus'' 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 ...

mollusc 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 esti ...

in the family

Skeneidae The Skeneidae are a speciose family of minute to small marine gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Trochoidea.Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S. (2013). Skeneidae. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php ...

.Gofas, S. (2013). Haplocochlias bellus (Dall, 1889). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=737584 on 2013-10-21

Description

(Original description by W.H. Dall) The height of the shell attains 3.5 mm, its diameter also 3.5 mm. The small, white, solid shell is shaped much like Littorina littorea (Linnaeus, 1758), having 4½

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 a minute glassy rounded nucleus. The radiating sculpture consists of fine incremental striae and occasional irregularities of growth. The spiral sculpture consists of two sorts. First, the fine spiral grooving covers the whole shell evenly and is always present. Secondly, there are strong spiral ridges, generally nine or ten 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 ...

, but sometimes smaller and more numerous, sometimes partly absent, sometimes so arranged as to tabulate the part of the whorl next the suture, and almost invariably smaller and weaker as they approach the base and the centre of the base. The suture is distinct, not channelled. The simple aperture is nearly circular, but the outer margin of its thickened edge is angulated at the junction with the body. The callus is continuous. The columella is arched, with a small chink, but no umbilicus behind it. This chink varies in size with different specimens. The aperture is oblique, its upper margin a little depressed. This shell sometimes has the raised riblets reddish brown against the waxen white of the rest.Dall W. H. 1889. Reports on the results of dredging, under the supervision of Alexander Agassiz, in the Gulf of Mexico (1877–78) and in the Caribbean Sea (1879–80), by the U.S. Coast Survey Steamer "Blake", Lieut.-Commander C.D. Sigsbee, U.S.N., and Commander J.R. Bartlett, U.S.N., commanding. XXIX. Report on the Mollusca. Part 2, Gastropoda and Scaphopoda. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy at Harvard College 18: 1–492, pls. 10–40
(described as ''Fossarus (Gottoina) bella'')

Distribution

This species occurs in the Gulf of Mexico.

References

* Rubio F., Fernández-Garcés R. & Rolán E. 2013. ''The genus Haplocochlias (Gastropoda, Skeneidae).'' Iberus, 31(2): 41–126 page(s): 76–81

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Haplocochlias Bellus bellus Gastropods described in 1889