Micrelenchus caelatus caelatus

Taxobox
name = "Micrelenchus caelatus caelatus"
status =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Gastropoda
subclassis = Prosobranchia
ordo = Archaeogastropoda
superfamilia = Trochacea
familia = Trochidae
genus = "Micrelenchus"
species = "M. caelatus"
subspecies = "M. caelatus caelatus"
trinomial = "Micrelenchus caelatus caelatus"
trinomial_authority = (Hutton, 1884)
synonyms = "Cantharidus sanguineus caelatus" Hutton, 1884

"Micrelenchus caelatus caelatus" is a subspecies of small sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Trochidae, the top shells.

Distribution

This subspecies is endemic to New Zealand, from Otago south, including The Snares.

Habitat

This top snail is found at depths of between 27 and 110 m.

hell description

The shell is solid, globosely conical, sculptured with sharply raised smooth to subgranose primary spiral cords, five on the penultimate, and very fine and closely spaced interstitial threads.

Shell coloration is pale pinkish to yellowish, the primary spirals regularly tessellated with bright pinkish-red.

The shell height is up to 6 mm, and the width is up to 5 mm.

References

* Powell A. W. B., "New Zealand Mollusca", William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 ISBN 0-00-216906-1