Aesopus stearnsii

Aesopus stearnsii
Shell of Aesopus stearnsii (specimen at Naturalis Biodiversity Center)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Neogastropoda
Family:	Columbellidae
Genus:	Aesopus
Species:	A. stearnsii
Binomial name
Aesopus stearnsii (Tryon, 1883)
Synonyms
Columbella (Seminella) stearnsiiTryon, 1883 (basionym) Columbella stearnsiiTryon, 1883 (original combination) Nitidella filosaStearns, 1873

Aesopus stearnsii, common name Stearn's dove shell, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Columbellidae, the dove snails. ^[1]

Description

(Original description) The elongate shell features five slightly convex whorls and a yellowish-brown latticed surface adorned with many fine, revolving spiral threads and microscopic axial ribs. The outer lip is simple and with spiral ridges on the inside. ^[2]

Distribution

This species occurs in the Atlantic Ocean from North Carolina to western Florida, USA; also off Bermuda and the Bahamas, Brazil; in the Caribbean Sea off Guadeloupe.

References

1. Aesopus stearnsii (Tryon, 1883) . Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species  on 17 April 2010.
2. Tryon, G. W. (1883). Manual of conchology, structural and systematic, with illustrations of the species, ser. 1., vol. 5: Marginellidae, Olividae, Columbellidae. pp 1-276, pls 1-63. Philadelphia, published by the author This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .

• Stearns, R. E. C. (1873). Descriptions of new marine shells from the west coast of Florida. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 25: 344-347.
• Jensen, R. H. (1997). A Checklist and Bibliography of the Marine Molluscs of Bermuda. Unp., 547 pp
• Rosenberg, G.; Moretzsohn, F.; García, E. F. (2009). Gastropoda (Mollusca) of the Gulf of Mexico, Pp. 579–699 in: Felder, D.L. and D.K. Camp (eds.), Gulf of Mexico–Origins, Waters, and Biota. Texas A&M Press, College Station, Texas

External links

• Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum : image