''Kylix panamella'' 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 14 mm, its diameter 6 mm. (Original description) The small, polished shell is white, with, 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 ...

and in the throat, a livid pinkish tint. The shell contains 10

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 ...

is eroded, but its first whorl is flattish and appears from above discoid and glassy. The subsequent whorls are glistening, constricted and appressed at the suture. These whorls contain (on the penultimate whorl eighteen) arcuate and protractive axial ribs which extend from the suture to 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 ...

except over the last half of the body whorl. The constriction which indicates the anal fasciole gives the posterior edge of the whorl a marginate appearance, but does not interrupt the ribs, which are very prominent in front of the fasciole at the shoulder. The whole surface is evenly sculptured by strongly incised, almost channelled lines, with wider, flat, strap-like interspaces. Near the siphonal canal these become narrower and cord-like and the channels wider, diminishing again toward the end of the canal. The spiral sculpture does not nodulate the ribs, but is minutely crenulated on the eminences by fine, even, incremental lines. The aperture is short, wide, with a deep rounded

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 ...

next the suture, a thin and much produced outer lip, a short, slightly recurved, flaring siphonal canal. The arcuate columella is callous, white and smooth, with a conspicuous nodule on the body between the sulcus and the suture. The operculum is wanting. The first half of the body whorl in the adult ends in a node or

varix A varix (pl. varices) is an abnormally dilated vessel with a tortuous course. Varices usually occur in the venous system, but may also occur in arterial or lymphatic vessels. Examples of varices include: * Varicose veins, large tortuous veins usua ...

, indicating a previous resting stage with developed outer lip. Beyond this the whorl is destitute of ribs. W.H. Dall (1908): Reports on the Dredging Operations off the West Coast of Central America to the Galapagos, to the West Coast of Mexico, and in the Gulf of California, in charge of Alexander Agassiz, carried on by the U. S. Fish Commission Steamer "Albatross," during 1891, Lieut. Commander Z. L. Tanner, U. S. N., Commanding. XXX VII. Reports on the Scientific Results of the Expedition to the Eastern Tropical Pacific, in charge of Alexander Agassiz, by the U. S. Fish Commission Steamer "Albatross," from October, 1904, to March, 1905, Lieut. Commander L. M. Garrett, U. S. N., Commanding. XIV. The Mollusca and the Brachiopoda; Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard v. 43 p. 275 (1904)
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Distribution

This species occurs in the demersal zone of the Pacific Ocean off Panama at a depth of 280 m.

References

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

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kylix Panamella panamella Gastropods described in 1908