''Stenodrillia horrenda'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

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 ...

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 ...

.Rosenberg, G. (2015). Stenodrillia horrenda. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=420319 on 2016-12-12

Description

The length of the shell attains 60 mm. (Original description) The very coarse and strong, long, narrow shell has with a concave conical base. It shows huge hunchy ribs, and coarse spiral threads. Its longitudinal

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

is characterized by six enormous bunchy oblique ribs on each

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 ...

, which die out on the base and at the sinus below the suture, but reach the suture at the bottom of the upper whorls. They are parted by broad open furrows, which run obliquely to the left and more or less continuously down the

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...

. These ribs and furrows are roughened by coarse unequal lines of growth. The surface is scored by strong rough spiral threads parted by wider furrows. These threads are absent in the deep, strong, shallow, sinus-furrow below the suture, in which, however, a few feeble spiral threads are found. Two, a little stronger, marginate the underside of the suture. The shell of the holotype is weathered, but seems to have been of a uniform pale tint. The spire is very tall, narrow, and conical. The apex broken. There remain 11 convex whorls of slow increase. The last is hunchy but not large, and is drawn out into a concave base with a broad snout. The suture is small, very much distorted by the longitudinal ribs. The

aperture In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. An opt ...

is small, elongately and gibbously pear-shaped. The outer lip is immensely but remotely thickened outside by the last rib, from which it is bevelled off to a narrow edge. The U-shaped sinus is deep, broad, and strong, close up to the suture but parted from it by a big triangular shelf. Below it the lip edge advances very much and then retreats again in front. The inner lip shows a thin broad glaze on the columella, which is very strong, oblique to the left, slightly cut off in front, where alone it is twisted with a thin rounded edgeWatson, R.B. (1886) Report on the Scaphopoda and Gasteropoda collected by the H. M. S. Challenger during the years 1873–76. Report on the Scientific Results of the Voyage of the ‘Challenger’ (Zoology), 15, 1–756, 50 pls
/ref>

Distribution

This species occurs off

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, USA

References

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

Rosenberg, G., F. Moretzsohn, and E. F. García. 2009. ''Gastropoda (Mollusca) of the Gulf of Mexico'', Pp. 579–699 in Felder, D.L. and D.K. Camp (eds.), Gulf of Mexico–Origins, Waters, and Biota. Biodiversity. Texas A&M Press, College Station, Texas

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stenodrillia Horrenda horrenda Gastropods described in 1886