Moelleriopsis abyssicola

Moelleriopsis abyssicola is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk unassigned in the superfamily Seguenzioidea.[1]

Moelleriopsis abyssicola
Original drawing with two views of a shell of Moelleriopsis abyssicola
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Gastropoda
(unranked):
clade Vetigastropoda
Superfamily:
Seguenzioidea
Family:
unassigned
Genus:
Moelleriopsis
Species:
M. abyssicola
Binomial name
Moelleriopsis abyssicola
Bush, 1897
Synonyms[1]

Molleriopsis abyssicola Bush, 1897

Description

(Original description by Bush) The shell grows to a length of 3.2 mm. The small shell is opaque white, under a golden brown epidermis. It contains few convex whorls (the tip is broken away) forming a well-elevated spire and large body whorl. The surface is lustrous where rubbed, ornamented with a single conspicuous carina which defines a broad, flattened sutural area and makes the whorls slightly angulated. This is roughened by the crossing of the growth lines, which are elsewhere inconspicuous. On the base surrounding the umbilicus there are also four more prominent carina, about equal in size and evenly separated by wide, slightly concave interspaces. The first one is situated about the middle of the base, and the last one well up in the umbilicus. On all of these, the lines of growth are so conspicuous as to give them a distinctly beaded appearance. At their termination they form distinct points on the somewhat expanded thin edge of the peristome. The aperture within is dull, opaque white, with a narrow, much thinner, semi-transparent, somewhat expanded, sharp-edged border. This gives the appearance of thickening, but there is no raised opaque white line, said by some author to be the distinguishing character of Moelleria.[2]

Distribution

This species is distributed in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean.

References
  1. Moelleriopsis abyssicola Bush, 1897. Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 25 April 2011.
  2. Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, vol. 10, 1899–1900
  • Abbott, R.T. (1974). American Seashells. 2nd ed. Van Nostrand Reinhold: New York, NY (USA). 663 pp
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