Zemitrella laevirostris

Zemitrella laevirostris
Shell of Zemitrella laevirostris (specimen in the Museum of New Zealand)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Order: Neogastropoda
Superfamily: Buccinoidea
Family: Columbellidae
Genus: Zemitrella
Species:
Z. laevirostris
Binomial name
Zemitrella laevirostris
Powell, 1940

Zemitrella laevirostris is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Columbellidae, the dove snails.[1]

Description

The length of the shell attains 3.3 millimetres (0.13 in), its diameter 1.3 millimetres (0.051 in).

(Original description) The shell is small, elongate, smooth, and polished, lacking any sculpture, even on the neck, which does not show the characteristic spiral grooves. It has four and a half whorls, including a smooth, papillate protoconch of one and a half whorls. The spire is slightly taller than the aperture. The whorls are evenly rounded, and the suture is impressed.

The outer lip is scarcely thickened, but it shows a distinct, shallow subsutural sinus. The coloration is light golden and reddish-brown, set against a white ground. The pattern is variable: in the holotype, the protoconch and the first whorl are light reddish-brown, while the succeeding whorls display a subsutural collar of reddish-brown blotches, an interrupted narrow band of the same colour, and a diffused general pattern of horizontal to slightly oblique streaks of light brown and pale grey. The entire base is almost uniformly light golden-brown.

The aperture is whitish within, except on the lower third, where the basal colour shows through. [2]

Distribution

This marine species is endemic to New Zealand and occurs off Far North and Ranfurly Bank.

References

  1. ^ a b MolluscaBase eds. (2023). MolluscaBase. Zemitrella laevirostris Powell, 1940. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=511760 on 2023-11-11
  2. ^ Powell, A. W. B. (1940). The marine Mollusca of the Aupourian Province, New Zealand. Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 70: 205-248 This article incorporates text from this source, which is under a CC BY 4.0 license.
  • 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.