Anacithara nanisca

Anacithara nanisca is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Horaiclavidae. ^[1]

Anacithara nanisca
Original images of a shell of Anacithara nanisca
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Neogastropoda
Superfamily:	Conoidea
Family:	Horaiclavidae
Genus:	Anacithara
Species:	A. nanisca
Binomial name
Anacithara nanisca (Hervier, 1897)
Synonyms[1]
Mangilia nanisca Hervier, 1897

R.N. Kilburn disputed in 1994 that Mangilia nanisca should belong to the genus Anacithara, as it shows apertural features that are unknown in Anacithara, such as two median denticles in the inner lip and a posterior nodule on the outer lip.^[2]

Description

(Original description in Latin) The shell is tiny, fusiform, white, and crystalline. Its spire is acuminated and turreted-pyramidal. It has 6-7 whorls: the 2 embryonic ones are smooth, round, and shiny; the intermediate ones are convex, constricted by an impressed suture, and more or less obtusely angled towards the middle. These whorls are longitudinally costulate, with 7 pyramidally arranged, obliquely directed, rather thick ribs. They are transversely elevated-striated, with minute, crowded, unequal striae surpassing the costulae, and several larger ones between them. The body whorl slightly exceeds half of the total length, is briefly angled, then convex, and attenuates towards the base, ending in a very short and truncated siphonal canal. On the dorsal part, between the penultimate and ultimate ribs, it is faintly spotted with reddish above.

The aperture is oblique, somewhat oblong, and white, with a continuous peristome. The columella is oblique, covered with a moderate callosity, equipped with a tiny tubercle above under the outer lip, and is biplicate towards the middle, with rather thick folds. The outer lip is thickened on the last rib and arched; it is scarcely angular superiorly, acute at the aperture, smooth in the throat, and unidentate with a minute tubercle at the mouth of the sinus. The sinus is obliquely and roundly excavated in the outer lip below the suture. ^[3]

Distribution

This marine species occurs off Queensland, Australia and off the Loyalty Islands