Oxystele merula

Oxystele merula is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Trochidae, the top snails.[1]

Oxystele merula
Drawing with an apertural view of a shell of Oxystele merula
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Clade: Vetigastropoda
Order: Trochida
Superfamily: Trochoidea
Family: Trochidae
Genus: Oxystele
Species:
O. merula
Binomial name
Oxystele merula
(Dillwyn, 1817)
Synonyms[1]
  • Monodonta merula Lamarck, 1822
  • Oxystele inflata Turton, 1932
  • Trochus merula Dillwyn, 1817
  • Trochus meruloides Krauss, 1848

Description

The height of the shell varies between 27 mm and 40 mm, its diameter between 35 mm and 41 mm. The rather depressed conoidal shell is imperforate. Its color is lusterless purplish-black. The conical spire has an eroded yellowish apex. The following whorl is spirally striate. The last two whorls are smooth. The six whorls are convex. The sutures are distinct. The body whorl is not carinated at the periphery, rather flattened on the base, and usually slightly eroded in front of the aperture. The large aperture is oblique. The outer lip has a black margin and is within silvery. The nacre is smooth, but apparently lirate. The thin, white columella is arcuate and simple. The umbilico-columellar region is surrounded by a beautiful rose-colored tract. [2]

Distribution

This marine species occurs in the Atlantic Ocean off Angola, Namibia and the Cape Region, South Africa.

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References
  1. Bouchet, P. (2013). Oxystele merula (Dillwyn, 1817). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=739283 on 2014-02-12
  2. Tryon (1889), Manual of Conchology XI, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia (described as Monodonta merula)
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