''Vexillum piceum'' 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 shell is abbreviately fusiform, somewhat ventricose. The whole surface is decussated by narrow grooves, the longitudinal grooves are finely striated. The spire is rather short and acute. The sutures are well impressed. The aperture is strongly lirate within. The outer lip is denticulate. The columella is four-plaited. The shell is black. The spire and upper part of 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 ...

are spotted with white, occasionally encircled with a single narrow white band. The transverse grooves are reddish-brown.Pease, W. H. (1865). Descriptions of new genera and species of marine shells from the islands of the Central Pacific. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. (1865): 512-517.

Distribution

This marine species occurs off Hawaii.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vexillum Piceum piceum Gastropods described in 1860