Inquisitor flindersianus

Inquisitor flindersianus
Original image of a shell of Inquisitor flindersianus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Neogastropoda
Superfamily:	Conoidea
Family:	Pseudomelatomidae
Genus:	Inquisitor
Species:	I. flindersianus
Binomial name
Inquisitor flindersianus Hedley, 1922
Synonyms [1]
Pleurotoma alabasterBrazier, 1876

Inquisitor flindersianus is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Pseudomelatomidae, the turrids and allies. ^[1]

Description

The length of the shell attains 31 mm, its diameter 11 mm.

(Original description) The rather large and solid shell has a slender fusiform shape. Its contains eleven whorls. Its colour is ochraceous-salmon, with a pale zone on the shoulder.

Sculpture : The fasciole slightly excavate, crossed by crescentic lines, and traversed by fine threads. The ribs are discontinuous, oblique, widely spaced, round-backed, bolder on the upper whorls, disappearing on the ventral side of the body whorl, but re-appearing on the dorsal . They are set at twelve to a whorl. The spirals are flat-topped cords which override the ribs—about twenty-two on the body whorl and five or seven on the upper whorls. Their furrows are crossed by microscopic hairlines, and often traversed by an interstitial thread.

Aperture :—The mouth is narrow. The varix is broad and low, about its own breadth within the edge of the free flap which stretches across the mouth. The sinus is deep, oblique, narrowed at the entrance. The columella is straight. The inner lip has a raised margin. The short siphonal canal is open. ^[2]

Distribution

This marine species is endemic to Australia and occurs off Queensland

References

1. Inquisitor flindersianus Hedley, 1922 . Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species  on 4 April 2010.
2. Hedley, C. 1922. A revision of the Australian Turridae. Records of the Australian Museum 13(6): 213-359, pls 42-56 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

• Brazier, J. 1876. A list of the Pleurotomidae collected during the Chevert expedition, with the description of the new species. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 1: 151–162
• Wells, F.E. 1994. A revision of the Recent Australian species of the turrid genera Inquisitor and Ptychobela. Journal of the Malacological Society of Australasia 15: 71-102
• Wilson, B. 1994. Australian marine shells. Prosobranch gastropods. Kallaroo, WA : Odyssey Publishing Vol. 2 370 pp.

External links

• Tucker, J.K. (2004). "Catalog of recent and fossil turrids (Mollusca: Gastropoda)" (PDF). Zootaxa. 682: 1–1295.