''Terebra amanda'', common name Amanda's auger, 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 ...

mollusc 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 esti ...

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 ...

Terebridae The Terebridae, commonly referred to as auger shells or auger snails, is a group or family of small to large predatory marine gastropods in the superfamily Conoidea.Gofas, S. (2012). Terebridae. World Register of Marine Specie2012-10-12 These ga ...

, the auger snails.

Description

The length of the shell varies between 25 mm and 95 mm. (Original description) The shell is rather bluntly, elongately subulate. It is pale brownish orange throughout. It contains 17

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, sculptured with a coarse infrasutural spiral crenate rib and five smaller spiral crenate ribs The interstices are finely punctate. 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. The

columella Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (; Arabic: , 4 – ) was a prominent writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire. His ' in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture, together with the wo ...

recurved and twisted. 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 ...

is short.Preston, H. B. "Descriptions of new species of land, marine and freshwater shells from the Andaman Islands." Records of the Indian Museum 2.2 (1908): 187–210
(described as ''Terebra unicolor'')

Distribution

This marine species occurs in the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...

, in the Indo-Pacific and off

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and the Solomons.

References

* Vine, P. (1986). ''Red Sea Invertebrates.'' Immel Publishing, London. 224 pp * Bratcher T. & Cernohorsky W.O. (1987). ''Living terebras of the world. A monograph of the recent Terebridae of the world.'' American Malacologists, Melbourne, Florida & Burlington, Massachusetts. 240pp. * Terryn Y. (2007). ''Terebridae: A Collectors Guide.'' Conchbooks & NaturalArt. 59pp + plates. * Severns M. (2011) ''Shells of the Hawaiian Islands - The Sea Shells.'' Conchbooks, Hackenheim. 564 pp.

External links

Gastropods.com: ''Terebra (Amanda-group) amanda''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3702997 Terebridae Gastropods described in 1844