Clavus formosus

Clavus formosus
Shell of Clavus formosus (specimen in the MNHN, Paris)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Order: Neogastropoda
Superfamily: Conoidea
Family: Drilliidae
Genus: Clavus
Species:
C. formosus
Binomial name
Clavus formosus
(Reeve, 1846)
Synonyms[1]
  • Pleurotoma formosa (Reeve, 1846)
  • Clavus formosa (Reeve, 1846)
  • Pleurotoma tessellata (Reeve, 1846) (misapplied name; species 331 in original text, corrected in errata)

Clavus formosus is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Drilliidae.[1]

Description

The shell is pyramidal in form, with the upper part of the whorls distinctly concave. The surface is closely tuberculate-plicate at the middle. The aperture is small. The ground colour is white, ornamented with large conspicuous tessellated reddish-brown spots.[2]

Its description is almost identical to Clavus laeta (Hinds, 1843)

Distribution

The type locality is Capul Island in the Philippines.[2] It has subsequently been reported from other parts of the tropical western Pacific, specifically in the demersal zone of the Red Sea.[3] and off Papua New Guinea.

Taxonomy

In his Monograph of the genus Pleurotoma, Reeve inadvertently applied the name Pleurotoma tessellata to two different species. In the errata to the work, he corrected the name of Species 331 to Pleurotoma formosa, which therefore constitutes the valid original description of the present species. The name Pleurotoma tessellata was retained for a different taxon described earlier in the same monograph (Species 244).[2]

Subsequent revisions placed Pleurotoma formosa in the genus Clavus.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Clavus formosus (Reeve, 1846)". www.marinespecies.org. Retrieved 13 March 2026.
  2. ^ a b c Reeve, Lowell Augustus (1843). Conchologia iconica, or, Illustrations of the shells of molluscous animals. Vol. 1. Reeve, Brothers.
  3. ^ Sealifebase : Clavus formosa