''Zafra troglodytes'' is a
species of
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 ...
in the
family Columbellidae
The Columbellidae, the dove snails or dove shells, are a family of minute to small sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the order Neogastropoda.Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S. (2010). Columbellidae. In: Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S.; Rosenberg, G. (2010) Wo ...
, the dove snails.
Description
Shell size varies between 2 mm and 6 mm.
This species is more biconical in shape than ''
Zafra succinea'', with a carinated
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 ...
, and a different colour pattern.
Distribution
This species occurs in the
Red Sea,
Aden
Aden ( ar, عدن ' Yemeni: ) is a city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some east of the strait Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 people. ...
and
Djibouti; and in the Indian Ocean off
Madagascar and in the
Western Pacific Ocean.
References
* Dautzenberg, Ph. (1929). '. Faune des Colonies Francaises, Tome III
External links
Drivas, J. & Jay, M. (1997). Report on a collection of Columbellidae (Mollusca, Gastopoda) from the west Indian Ocean region (Madagascar, Glorieuses Islands, Comores Islands, and nearby banks and coral shawls) with descriptions of three new species and one new genus. Apex. 12 (1): 31-42*
troglodytes
Gastropods described in 1866
{{Columbellidae-stub