''Lovellona atramentosa'' 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 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 e ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Mitromorphidae Mitromorphidae is a monophyletic family of small to medium-sized sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea.Bouchet, P. (2011). Mitromorphidae Casey, 1904. In: MolluscaBase (2018). Accessed through: World Register of Marin ...

Description

The shell size varies between 5 mm and 13 mm The shell is encircled by finely pricked grooves. It has a chestnut-color with generally a few white spots on the shoulder, and is white-tinted at the base.G.W. Tryon (1884) Manual of Conchology, structural and systematic, with illustrations of the species, vol. VI; Philadelphia, Academy of Natural Sciences

Distribution

This species occurs in the Indian Ocean off the

Aldabra Aldabra is the world's second-largest coral atoll, lying south-east of the continent of Africa. It is part of the Aldabra Group of islands in the Indian Ocean that are part of the Outer Islands of the Seychelles, with a distance of 1,120 k ...

Atoll,

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

and KwaZuluNatal, in the Indo-West Pacific.

References

* Taylor, J.D. (1973). ''Provisional list of the mollusca of Aldabra Atoll'' * Steyn, D.G. & Lussi, M. (1998) ''Marine Shells of South Africa. An Illustrated Collector’s Guide to Beached Shells.'' Ekogilde Publishers, Hartebeespoort, South Africa, ii + 264 pp * Filmer R.M. (2001).'' A Catalogue of Nomenclature and Taxonomy in the Living Conidae 1758 - 1998''. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden. 388pp * Liu J.Y. uiyu(ed.). (2008). ''Checklist of marine biota of China seas''. China Science Press. 1267 pp * Tucker J.K. (2009). ''Recent cone species database''. September 4, 2009 Edition * Chino M. & Stahlschmidt P. (2009) ''New turrid species of the Mitromorpha-complex (Gastropoda: Conidae: Clathurellinae) from the Philippines and Japan''. Visaya 2(4): 63–82. * Severns, M. (2011). ''Shells of the Hawaiian Islands - The Sea Shells''. Conchbooks, Hackenheim. 564 pp.

External links

* atramentosa {{Mitromorphidae-stub