''Veprecula vepratica'' 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 ...

Raphitomidae Raphitomidae is a family of small to medium-sized sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea.Bouchet P. & Rocroi J.-P. (Ed.) (2005). "Classification and nomenclator of gastropod families". ''Malacologia'' 47(1-2). . 39 ...

Description

The length of the shell varies between 3.5 mm and 12 mm. (Original description) The small, thin, slender shell is fusiform and prickly. 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 pagodiform. Its colour is uniform pale brown. The shell contains six

whorls 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 d ...

, plus a five-whorled embryonic

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 ...

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 ...

: except the prickles and the ridges, the whole surface is microscopically granulated. Ten sharp projecting radial ribs, interrupted by the broad anal fasciole, ascend the spire obliquely. Along the periphery of each whorl runs a broad spiral shelf, beneath it are two similar but lesser spirals, the lowest of which is half buried in the suture, and above it are three rapidly and successively diminishing spirals. These radials and spirals enclose deeply sunk lozenges, at the point of intersection upwardly directed prickles arise. The anal fasciole is marked with crescentic striae. On the base and

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 ...

are a dozen spiral threads. The apex of five whorls is sharply differentiated from the adult shell, sculptured with close delicate, crenulate, radial riblets. Slit sutural, broad and deep. 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 pyriform, narrowing gradually to the siphonal canal. The outer lip is sharp. There is no callus on the columella. The siphonal canal is very long, open and sinuate. Hedley, C. 1903. Scientific results of the trawling expedition of H.M.C.S. "Thetis" off the coast of New South Wales in February and March, 1898, pt. 6. Memoirs of the Australian Museum 4(1): 326-402

Distribution

This marine species occurs in the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

and off

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

; off

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia.

References

* Laseron, C. 1954. ''Revision of the New South Wales Turridae (Mollusca)''. Australian Zoological Handbook. Sydney : Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales pp. 56, pls 1–12. * Powell, A.W.B. 1966. ''The molluscan families Speightiidae and Turridae, an evaluation of the valid taxa, both Recent and fossil, with list of characteristic species''. Bulletin of the Auckland Institute and Museum. Auckland, New Zealand 5: 1–184, pls 1–23

External links

MNHN, Paris: specimen

Melvill J.C. (1917). A revision of the Turridae (Pleurotomidae) occurring in the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, and North Arabian Sea, as evidenced mostly through the results of dredgings carried out by Mr. F. W. Townsend, 1893–1914. Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London. 12(4): 140-186, pls 8-10
*
Gastropods.com: ''Veprecula vepratica''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Veprecula Vepratica vepratica Molluscs of the Indian Ocean Molluscs of the Pacific Ocean Gastropods of Australia Gastropods described in 1903 Taxa named by Charles Hedley