''Neoguraleus protensus'' is an extinct 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 Mangeliidae.Marshall, B. (2015). Neoguraleus protensus (Hutton, 1885) †. In: MolluscaBase (2017). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=831719 on 2017-10-20

Description

Two specimens turned up, which differ from the type by the predominating spiral sculpture and very feeble axial plications. Typically there are delicate spiral threads, but in our specimens there are distinct chords present, which are crossed by flexuous longitudinal striæ. Only 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 are distinctly decussate. 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 ...

, consisting of two smooth whorls, is much larger than in fossil specimens from Petane, more bulbose, and with an oblique nucleus.R. Murdoch and H. Suter, Results of Dredging on the Continental Shelf of New Zealand; Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand Volume 38, 1905
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Distribution

This extinct marine species is endemic to New Zealand from Pliocene strata of

Petane Petane () is a small settlement in the hills southwest of Novo Mesto in southeastern Slovenia. The area is part of the traditional region of Lower Carniola and is now included in the Southeast Slovenia Statistical Region The Southeast Slovenia ...

References

Hutton, Frederick Wollaston.Hutton, Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xvii, p. 317, 1885
* Maxwell, P.A. (2009). Cenozoic Mollusca. pp 232–254 in Gordon, D.P. (ed.) New Zealand inventory of biodiversity. Volume one. Kingdom Animalia: Radiata, Lophotrochozoa, Deuterostomia. Canterbury University Press, Christchurch.

External links

Auckland Museum: ''Neoguraleus protensus''
protensus Gastropods described in 1885 Gastropods of New Zealand {{Mangeliidae-stub