''Hemilienardia iospira'' 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 ...

.MolluscaBase (2019). MolluscaBase. Hemilienardia iospira (Hervier, 1896). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=980550 on 2019-07-01

Description

The length of the shell attains 4 mm, its diameter 1.5 mm. The small, fusiform shell is slightly elongated. The thickened shell is shiny, with a purple lilac coloration on the upper

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, below the yellow

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 ...

. On the penultimate whorl and 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 ...

, a light white band occupies the middle, becoming more intense on the dorsal part of the body whorl. At this point, the 5th and 6th ribs become discolored and turn white, especially at the opening of the outer lip, where the white coloring broadens and extends more or less. The shell contains 6 whorls. The 1½ embryonic yellow whorls are rounded and smooth. The next whorls are oblate-convex, compressed at the suture and very briefly angular at the top. The shell is reticulate (quite tight in the upper whorls, more expanded at the body whorl) with a granular, high mesh network produced by the intercrossing of vertical rounded, rather strong ribs and 3 strong decurrent cords. The body whorl is convex, slightly depressed toward the base, below the 5th and 6th ribs, which are stronger than the others. The aperture is elongated, narrow, with the same color as the shell. The columella is purplish. The outer edge is oblate-convex in the upper part but substantially swollen on the fifth and sixth ribs, which show a white appearance, and protrudes on the aperture. The aperture is thickened on the last rib, crenelated on the sharp outer lip and furnished inside with 5 denticulate folds. The subsutural sinus cuts rather deep into the thickening of the outer lip, where it expands and becomes rounded.Hervier R.P. (1897), Descriptions d'espèces nouvelles provenant de l'Archipel de la Nouvelle Calédonie (suite); Journal de conchyliologie t.45 s.3 (1897)

Distribution

This marine species occurs off

Lifou Lifou is a communes of France, commune of France in the Loyalty Islands Province of New Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean. Geography Lifou is made up of Lifou Island, the largest and most heavily populated of the Loyalty Islands, its smaller neig ...

, New Caledonia.

References

* Wiedrick S.G. (2017). Aberrant geomorphological affinities in four conoidean gastropod genera, Clathurella Carpenter, 1857 (Clathurellidae), Lienardia Jousseaume, 1884 (Clathurellidae), Etrema Hedley, 1918 (Clathurellidae) and Hemilienardia Boettger, 1895 (Raphitomidae), with the descriptionof fourteen new Hemilienardia species from the Indo-Pacific. The Festivus. special issue: 2-45.

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q61700483 iospira Gastropods described in 1896