''Pyrgospira candace'' 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 size of the shell attains 7.5 mm, its diameter 3.5 mm. (Original description) The small shell is pale purple with touches of brown. 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 lost. The shell contains about seven subsequent short

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 suture is appressed, obscure, behind a moderately impressed anal fasciole with a fine thread between them. The other spiral sculpture consists of (on the spire) two peripheral close-set threads overriding the ribs. In front of these 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 ...

are two or three obscure broad flattish ridges with rather wide interspaces overridden by the axial sculpture, and 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 ...

a few rather sharp threads more closely set. The axial sculpture consists of 10 or more short ribs on the penultimate whorl with narrower interspaces. On the body whorl there are about 13 smaller ribs extending nearly to the siphonal canal and reticulating the spiral sculpture. The incremental lines are rather marked. The aperture is wide and short. 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 large, rounded and shows a subsutural callus. The outer lip is thin-edged, prominent, with a large rounded varix behind it. Within it is dark brow and smooth. The inner lip is simple. The columella is very short and not callous. The siphonal canal is very short but distinct. Dall (1919) Descriptions of new species of Mollusca from the North Pacific Ocean; Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum, vol. 56 (1920)

Distribution

This species occurs in the Caribbean Sea and off the Lesser Antilles; in the Gulf of California, Western Mexico

References

External links

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MNHN: specimen

De Jong K.M. & Coomans H.E. (1988) Marine gastropods from Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire. Leiden: E.J. Brill. 261 pp.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pyrgospira Candace candace Gastropods described in 1919