Zafra subvitrea

Zafra subvitrea
Shell of Zafra subvitrea (holotype)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Neogastropoda
Superfamily:	Buccinoidea
Family:	Columbellidae
Genus:	Zafra
Species:	Z. subvitrea
Binomial name
Zafra subvitrea (E. A. Smith, 1879)
Synonyms
Columbella (Zafra) subvitreaE. A. Smith, 1879 (basionym) Columbella subvitreaE. A. Smith, 1879 (original combination)

Zafra subvitrea is a species of sea snail in the family Columbellidae, the dove snails. ^[1]

Description

The length of the shell attains 4 mm, its diameter 1½ mm.

(Original description) The shell is fusiformly ovate and subpellucid. It is white, with a thin indistinct brown line interrupted by the ribs around the lower part of the whorls, and a transparent pellucid zone at the top, with a second band or series of short flames just below the middle of the body whorl, which is stained with brown at the extremity.

The shell contains seven whorls. The first two are convex and smooth. The following two or two and a half are almost flat and likewise smooth, the rest strongly costate. There are about eleven ribs on a whorl. They are rounded, a little oblique, and more or less arcuate, narrowed and subobsolete at the upper extremity, disappearing a little below the middle of the body-whorl. The lower extremity or cauda of which is transversely and a little obliquely sculptured with five or six striae, whereof the two or three uppermost are wider apart than the rest. The aperture is narrow, occupying rather less than half the shell’s entire length. The outer lip is thin, faintly and broadly emarginate, or sinuated just beneath the suture and smooth within. The columella is a trifle oblique, tinged with brown, a little convex or swollen at the middle, covered with a thin callosity with a defined margin, which unites at the upper extremity with the termination of the outer lip. The siphonal canal is short, rather deep, and in a slight measure recurving. ^[2]

Distribution

This marine species occurs off Japan.

References

1. MolluscaBase eds. (2023). MolluscaBase. Zafra subvitrea (E. A. Smith, 1879). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=511636 on 2023-10-12
2. Smith, E. A. (1879). On a collection of Mollusca from Japan. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. (1879): 181-218, pls 19-20

External links

• Smith, E. A. (1879). On a collection of Mollusca from Japan. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. (1879): 181-218, pls 19-20