''Turbonilla amoena'' 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 Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

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 ...

Pyramidellidae Pyramidellidae, common name the pyram family, or pyramid shells, is a voluminous taxonomic family of mostly small and minute ectoparasitic sea snails, marine heterobranch gastropod molluscs. The great majority of species of pyrams are micromol ...

, the pyrams and their allies.

Distribution

This species occurs in the following locations: * Atlantic (Europe) * Azores *

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

* European waters ( ERMS scope) *

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

Description

(Original description of ''Odostomia brevicula'', Jeffreys, 1883) The conical shell is solid, opaque, and glossy. The

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 short, strong, straight. It shows rather sharp longitudinal ribs, of which there are about a dozen 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 ...

. They terminate abruptly at the periphery, which is bluntly angulated. The interstices of the ribs have an excavated appearance. Under the microscope the whole surface is covered lengthwise with very fine and close-set striae. The apex is quite smooth and polished. The colour is clear white. 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 ...

is short. It contains four whorls (besides the bulbous andh eterostrophe embryonic nucleus), compressed, and gradually enlarging. The body whorl is almost equal to half the spire. The suture is shallow and nearly straight. The aperture is oval, pointed at the base. The columella is curved. The tooth is small and indistinct, tubercular, placed on the upper part of the columella. There is no umbilicus. Jeffreys J.G., 1883. ''Mediterranean Mollusca (No. 3) and other Invertebrata''. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 5, 11: 393-401

References

* Warén A., 1980. M''arine Mollusca described by John Gwyn Jeffreys, with the location of the type material.'' Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Special publication, 1. London, 60 pp * Carrozza F. & Nofroni I., 1993. ''Sulla validità specifica di Turbonilla amoena (Monterosato, 1878) e sua priorità rispetto a Turbonilla compressa (Jeffreys, 1884)(Heterostropha: Pyramidellidae)''. Bollettino Malacologico,29: 97-191. * Giannuzzi Savelli R., Micali P., Nofroni I. & Pusateri F. (2011) ''Odostomia brevicula Jeffreys, 1883 junior synonym of Turbonilla amoena (Monterosato, 1878) (Gastropoda, Heterobranchia, Pyramidellidae).'' Biodiversity Journal 2(4): 217-220.

External links

To CLEMAM

To Encyclopedia of Life
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7853930 amoena Gastropods described in 1878 Molluscs of the Atlantic Ocean Molluscs of the Mediterranean Sea