CZ EN
SEARCH  

Taxon profile

species

Bellaspira stahlschmidti P.J. Fallon, 2016

kingdom Animalia - animals »  phylum Mollusca - mollusks »  class Gastropoda - gastropods »  order Neogastropoda »  family Drilliidae »  genus Bellaspira

Images

Bellaspira stahlschmidti

Author: Fallon, P.J.

Taxon in country check-lists*

* List of countries might not be complete

Description

Shell small (10.3 mm in length), stoutly fusiform, solid, truncated anteriorly, glossy, with about 714 slightly convex whorls with impressed sutures and low ribs. Aperture a wide oval with a short anterior canal. Protoconch of 1,5 smooth round whorls, glossy but not translucent, regularly expanding, the first whorl not immersed in the second. Axial sculpture of broad ribs, low, almost obsolete, running from suture-to-suture, narrower than their interspaces. Ribs channeled at the margin of the sulcus then terminating lower at the suture, forming a knob mid-sulcus. Ribs highest, almost knob-like at about mid-whorl, then evanescent below whorl periphery; 9 ribs on penultimate, 6 on last whorl to varix. Varix is broad, low, hump-like, about 1/3-turn from edge of outer lip. Spiral sculpture of fine incised lines over the shell's entire surface, fairly evenly spaced; ridge-like on the anterior fasciole. Growth striae strong, obscuring spiral lines in places. Sulcus demarcated by a depression of the axial ribs at about 1/3-height of spire whorl; ribs in sulcus raised, node like. Outer lip solid, like rest of shell, with no axial folds. Stromboid notch very shallow; wide. Edge of lip traces a continuous low arc from suture to end of anterior canal. Anal sinus is a wide but shallow indentation of the outer lip beginning at the suture, (when shell viewed laterally), and shaped like an inverted "V", with inner callus on both parietal wall and outer lip of mature specimens (when shell viewed ventrally). Inner lip moderately wide, recumbent, margined, with a callus where the inner lip joins the outer. Anterior canal short, open, notched at its end. Color white.
Fallon, P.J., 2016. Taxonomic review of tropical western Atlantic shallow water Drilliidae.

Interchangeable taxa

Bellaspira stahlschmidti has all the key characteristics of the genus: axial ribs that extend from suture-to-suture, (but sharply diminished in the sulcus—a trait not present in all members of the genus); and anal sinus a wide but shallow indentation of the outer lip beginning at the suture (shell viewed laterally), and surface microsculpture of incised lines over most of the teleoconch. Identification. Bellaspira stahlschmidti differs from its known congeners in possessing a broadly oval aperture and sweeping outer lip that extends anteriorly slightly beyond the siphonal canal in the fashion of some Fenimorea. It can be distinguished from Fenimorea nivalis, new species, which is also small, white and stout, by its fewer ribs and absence of a U-shaped anal sinus. The knob-like axials are also reminiscent of some Splendrillia, but members of that genus have a notched anal sinus quite different from that of Bellaspira.
This specimen is very different from its congeners. It stands apart from the only two other Bellaspira that have distinct anal fascioles (B. hannyae, and B. rosea) and as such merits description as a new species. It is only the second species of Bellaspira described from southern Brazil, the other being B. rosea.
Fallon, P.J., 2016. Taxonomic review of tropical western Atlantic shallow water Drilliidae.

Distribution

Off Guarapari, Espirito Santo State, south central Brazil, in 35-50 m. Range and habitat. Known only from the holotype.
Fallon, P.J., 2016. Taxonomic review of tropical western Atlantic shallow water Drilliidae.
Author: Jan Delsing

Contributions to BioLib

Help us to expand this encyclopedia! If you are logged in, you can add new subtaxa, vernacular and scientific names, texts, images or intertaxon relationships for this taxon.

Comments