''Zenepos totolirata'' 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 ...

, 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 in the family

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). . 3 ...

Description

The length of the shell attains 3.4 mm, its diameter is 1.4 mm. (Original description) The minute shell is narrowly fusiform, thin, semitransparent and spirally lirate. Sculpture : The

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 ...

is microscopically finely spirally striate, the succeeding

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 have 3 and 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 ...

has 10 to 12 equidistant fine spiral lirae. The interstices are smooth and slightly broader than the threads. The colour of the shell is white. The spire is narrowly conical, measuring about 1½ times the height of the aperture. The protoconch consists of 1½ convex whorls, the nucleus is narrowly rounded and oblique. There are 4 to 5 subsequent whorls, regularly increasing, lightly convex and somewhat flattened below the suture. The base of the shell is slightly contracted. The suture is not much impressed. The aperture is high and narrow, angled above, with a very short broad and truncated

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 ...

below. The outer lip is convex, straightened below the suture, with a very shallow broad sinus at the suture. It is smooth inside, crenated on the outside by spiral sculpture, thin and sharp. The columella is vertical, straight, and lightly excavated toward the flat parietal wall. The inner lip is very thin, narrow and smooth. Henry Suter (1913): Manual of the New Zealand Mollusca; Government of New Zealand, Wellington, N.Z.

Distribution

This marine species is endemic to New Zealand and occurs off

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

References

* Suter, H. (1908a) ''Descriptions of new species of New Zealand marine shells.'' Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London, 8, 178–191, pl. 7. * Powell, A.W.B. 1979 ''New Zealand Mollusca: Marine, Land and Freshwater Shells'', Collins, Auckland * Spencer, H.G., Marshall, B.A. & Willan, R.C. (2009). ''Checklist of New Zealand living Mollusca''. Pp 196-219. in: Gordon, D.P. (ed.) New Zealand inventory of biodiversity. Volume one. Kingdom Animalia: Radiata, Lophotrochozoa, Deuterostomia. Canterbury University Press, Christchurch

External links

Spencer H.G., Willan R.C., Marshall B.A. & Murray T.J. (2011). Checklist of the Recent Mollusca Recorded from the New Zealand Exclusive Economic Zone
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zenepos Totolirata totolirata Gastropods described in 1908 Gastropods of New Zealand