The species was described as new by William Healey Dall in 1925 based on material collected by the United States Bureau of Fisheries steamer Albatross.[2] The holotype is housed in the United States National Museum under catalog number USNM 110779.[2]
Volutopsius minor was the original taxonomic designation,[3] but subsequent taxonomic revisions have reclassified it under the genus Plicifusus.[4]
Description
The shell of Plicifusus minor is relatively small and slender for the genus, reaching a height of about 41 mm and a diameter of approximately 14 mm. It consists of about five and a half whorls, excluding the blunt protoconch, which comprises roughly one and a half whorls. The shell is pale chestnut-brown and covered by a smooth periostracum.[2]
The suture is well defined and not appressed, and the whorls are moderately rounded. Axial sculpture is limited to faint incremental growth lines, while spiral sculpture consists of obscure striae, approximately three per millimetre, separated by broader, flattened interspaces. The aperture is narrow, with a thin, sharp outer lip. The siphonal canal is poorly differentiated from the aperture. The columella is slightly concave and attenuated anteriorly, with a pervious axis.[2]
The operculum has a slightly coiled nucleus, resembling that of species in the genus Mohnia, although the overall shell form is characteristic of Volutopsius.[2]
Distribution and habitat
The type locality of Plicifusus minor is Aniwa Bay, Sakhalin Island, in the Sea of Okhotsk. The specimen was dredged at a depth of approximately 25 fathoms (about 46 m / 151 ft) on a muddy substrate, with a recorded bottom temperature of 38.5 °F (3.6 °C).[2] Subsequent records indicate that the species occurs in cold waters off Hokkaido and Sakhalin.[5]
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