''Kylix alcyone'' 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

Drilliidae The Drilliidae are a Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic family (biology), family of small predatory sea snails with high-spired shells. They are classified as marine (ocean), marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea. This family has no s ...

Description

The shell grows to a length of 15 mm, its diameter 4.5 mm. (Original description) The small, slender shell is acute. It is white and polished. It contains about nine

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 (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 ...

decorticated). The suture is distinct, not appressed. The anal

fasciole A fasciole in mollusks refers to a band or ribbon-like structure that is often seen as a flattened, slightly depressed area on the shell, formed by the successive growth lines on the edges of a canal. It is typically found on the surface of the she ...

is adjacent to it with no thickened cord between. The whorls are well rounded but the fasciole is flattish. The spiral sculpture consists of (on the early whorls two, 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 ...

about 15) sharply incised lines in front of the shoulder cutting the ribs into squarish segments which are hardly nodulous. On 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 ...

there are a few finer closet-set threads. The axial sculpture consists of (on the penultimate whorl about 21) rounded somewhat sigmoid ribs, extending from the suture to the base, feeble on the fasciole and the base of the shell and obsolete on the last half of the body whorl. The anal fasciole is wide and shows the arcuate posterior ends of the ribs which do not undulate the suture. The aperture is narrow. The

anal sulcus The anal sulcus, also called the anal sinus or anal canal, in Gastropods is a notch, a shelly tube at the top of the aperture In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and fo ...

is wide and rounded with a slightly flaring edge. The outer lip is thin, sharp and prominently arcuately produced. The inner lip is erased. The columella is strong and attenuated in front. The siphonal canal is distinct, narrow, and somewhat recurved.Dall (1919) Descriptions of new species of Mollusca from the North Pacific Ocean; Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum, vol. 56 (1920)
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Distribution

This species occurs in the demersal zone of the Pacific Ocean off Cape Lobos, Gulf of California, Western Mexico at a depth of 140 m.

References

Tucker, J.K. 2004 ''Catalog of recent and fossil turrids (Mollusca: Gastropoda)''. Zootaxa 682:1–1295
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kylix Alcyone

alcyone In Greek mythology, Alcyone or Halcyone (; grc, Ἀλκυόνη, Alkyónē derived from grc, ἀλκυών, alkyṓn, kingfisher, label=none) and Ceyx (; grc, Κήϋξ, Kḗÿx) were a wife and husband who incurred the wrath of the god Zeus ...

Gastropods described in 1919