''Inquisitor formidabilis'' 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.

Description

The length of the shell attains 46 mm, its diameter 15 mm. (Original description) The shell is large but comparatively thin, fusiform, subturreted and sharply pointed. The spire is produced. The base of the shell is contracted. The shell contains 13

whorls 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 d ...

. Its colour is grey-buff, maculated with chestnut at the sutures. Sculpture:—The radials are oblique, wide-spaced, consisting of low peripheral nodular riblets, ten on the penultimate, and eleven 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 ...

. On the earlier whorls the ribs ascend the spire perpendicularly and continuously, but on the lower whorls they are less developed and less regular. There is a secondary sculpture of fine radial threads which sometimes crowd the interstitial spaces of the spirals. On the body whorl are about thirty-two broad spiral cords, and on the penultimate ten. In their interstices one or more spiral threads may arise. A funicular rib on the anterior end of the shell encloses a small false umbilicus. The fasciole is broad, and is appressed to the suture. It is smooth save for crescentic growth lines. Aperture :—The sinus is wide and V-shaped. The outer lip is arched forwards, and the free sharp edge is bent inwards a little towards the aperture. Opposite the base of 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 a stromboid inflection. The siphonal canal is short, wide, and sharply recurved. The columella is overspread with a thick callus rising in a low tubercle opposite the sinus. Hedley, C. 1922. A revision of the Australian Turridae. Records of the Australian Museum 13(6): 213-359, pls 42-56

Distribution

This marine species is endemic to Australia and occurs off Queensland.

References

* Rippingale, O.H. & McMichael, D.F. 1961. ''Queensland and Great Barrier Reef shells''. Brisbane : Jacaranda Press 210 pp. * Powell, A.W.B. 1968. ''The turrid shellfish of Australian waters''. Australian Natural History 1 16: 1–6 * Wells, F.E. & Bryce, C.W. 1986. ''Seashells of Western Australia''. Perth : Western Australian Museum 207 pp. * Wells, F.E. 1994. ''A revision of the Recent Australian species of the turrid genera Inquisitor and Ptychobela''. Journal of the Malacological Society of Australasia 15: 71-102 * Wilson, B. 1994. ''Australian marine shells.'' Prosobranch gastropods. Kallaroo, WA : Odyssey Publishing Vol. 2 370 pp. * Liu J.Y. uiyu(ed.). (2008). ''Checklist of marine biota of China seas.'' China Science Press. 1267 pp.

External links

*
Gastropods.com: ''Inquisitor formidabilis''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Inquisitor Formidabilis formidabilis Gastropods described in 1922 Gastropods of Australia