Clavus (gastropod)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Clavus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| A shell of Clavus exasperatus | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Subclass: | Caenogastropoda |
| Order: | Neogastropoda |
| Superfamily: | Conoidea |
| Family: | Drilliidae |
| Genus: | Clavus Montfort, 1810 |
| Type species | |
| Clavus flammulatus Montfort, 1810 | |
| Species | |
|
See text | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
| |
Clavus is a genus of small sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Drilliidae.[1][2]
Apart from the general characteristics of the genera in the family Drilliidae, the species in the genus Clavus have a shell with peripheral tubercles, spines or wing-like processes.[3] The aperture is rather large. The outer lip is produced below the sinus.[4]
The shell of Clavus is characterised by the following features:— Flat indefinite fasciole, indicated only by the curve of growth lines. A smooth subulate protoconch. An insinuation of the outer lip, near the base, like that of Strombus. A major sculpture of prominent arched scales on the shoulder, and a minor sculpture of dense, microscopic, waved, spiral striae.[5]
Most species in this genus have a dorsal varix. But this is absent in a few species such as Clavus beckii, Clavus humilis and Clavus pica.
G.W. Tryon correctly preserved the genus for smooth specimens with a short body whorl, long spire, nodulous shoulder, no spiral sculpture, a wide, deep anal sulcus adjacent to the suture and, in the completely adult, a marked subsutural callus on the body.[6]
Distribution
The species in this genus occur in the Red Sea, In the Indian Ocean off Mozambique; also off Indonesia, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, Japan and Australia (New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia).
