Aforia persimilis

Aforia persimilis
Drawing of a shell of Aforia persimilis
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Neogastropoda
Family:	Cochlespiridae
Genus:	Aforia
Species:	A. persimilis
Binomial name
Aforia persimilis (W.H. Dall, 1890)
Synonyms [1]
Leucosyrinx persimilis(Dall, 1890) Leucosyrinx (goodei) persimilisDall, 1890 (original combination) Pleurotoma (Leucosyrinx) goodei var. persimilisDall, 1890

Aforia persimilis is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cochlespiridae. ^{[1] [2]}

Subspecies

• Aforia persimilis blanca(Dall, 1919)
• Aforia persimilis leonis(Dall, 1908)

Description

The length of the shell attains 95 mm, its diameter 32 mm.

The large, white shell features a fusiform shape and a pale olive periostracum. Its acute spire comprises eight whorls, excluding the lost nucleus, each adorned with a peripheral keel. The suture is distinct, and the whorls above the periphery are somewhat flattened, exhibiting a shallow constriction just behind the keel.

The axial sculpture consists solely of incremental lines. The spiral sculpture between the suture and the periphery features numerous flat, subequal, strap-like bands separated by narrower, shallow channels. The periphery displays a low, broad prominence that gives the effect of a keel, adorned with several similar but larger, stronger, and more widely spaced bands, often arranged in pairs, with fine subsidiary spiral striations. This sculptural pattern extends over the anterior half of the whorl, becoming finer and closer on the siphonal canal.

The aperture is elongated, with a sharp, thin outer lip. A wide, deep anal sulcus is present on the posterior slope of the whorl, about midway between the suture and the periphery. The anterior part of the lip is arcuate and protractive. The body, with its sculpture erased, is white and polished. The columella is short and twisted, obliquely truncate in front, gyrate, but not axially pervious, with a touch of brown on the edge. The siphonal canal is wide, elongated, slightly recurved, and lacks a fasciole. The operculum is brown and oval, with an exterior that is imbricately lamellose. Its nucleus is located inside the bluntly rounded apical end. ^[3]

Distribution

This marine species is found from the Gulf of Panama to Southwest Chile. The subspecies Aforia persimilis blanca was found off Cape Blanco, Oregon, United States, North Pacific Ocean at a depth of 1946 m.

References

1. Sartori, André F. (2015). Aforia persimilis (Dall, 1890). In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=745091 on 2016-07-07
2. P. Bouchet; Yu. I. Kantor; A. Sysoev; N. Puillandre (2011). "A new operational classification of the Conoidea (Gastropoda)". Journal of Molluscan Studies . 77 (3): 273–308. doi: 10.1093/mollus/eyr017 .
3. W.H. Dall (1908) Reports on the Mollusca and Brachiopoda, Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. vol. 43

• Sysoev, A.V. & Kantor, Yu.I. (1987a) Deep-sea gastropods of the genus Aforia (Turridae) of the Pacific: species composition, systematics, and functional morphology of the digestive system. The Veliger, 30, 105–126.