''Vexillum approximatum'' is a species of small

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 ...

, 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

Costellariidae Costellariidae sometimes called the "ribbed miters" is a taxonomic family of minute to medium-sized predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks. This family of snails is also sometimes referred to as ''Vexillum'' miters. The main family ...

, the ribbed miters.

Description

The ovate shell is turreted. The

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 are convexly angulated at the sutures, longitudinally ribbed and crossed by impressed striae. The interstices are punctured. The aperture is striated within. The columella is four-plaited. The color of the shell is white, banded and blotched irregularly with chestnut-brown. Tryon (1882), Manual of Conchology IV
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Distribution

This marine species occurs off the Philippines and Hawaii. Fossils have been found in early Miocene strata on

Enewetak Atoll Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; mh, Ānewetak, , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ja, ブラウン環礁) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with it ...

, Marshall Islands

References

* Turner H. 2001. ''Katalog der Familie Costellariidae'' Macdonald, 1860. Conchbooks. 1–100 page(s): 17

External links

Pease, W. H. (1860). Descriptions of new species of Mollusca from the Sandwich Islands. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 28: 18-36; 141-148.

Ladd, H.S. (1977). Cenozoic fossil mollusks from western Pacific islands; Gastropods (Eratoidae through Harpidae). U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper. 533: i–iv, 1–84, pls 1–23
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vexillum Approximatum approximatum Gastropods described in 1860