Apicalia palmipedis

Apicalia palmipedis is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Eulimidae. ^[1]

Apicalia palmipedis
Apicalia palmipedis on a starfish of the genus Anseropoda
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Littorinimorpha
Family:	Eulimidae
Genus:	Apicalia
Species:	A. palmipedis
Binomial name
Apicalia palmipedis Koehler & Vaney, 1913
Synonyms
Murconalia palmipedis Koehler & Vaney, 1913

Description

(Original description in French) The shell reaches 6.5 mm in height. It has eight whorls and its apex terminates in a small mucro with a blunt tip. This shell is thick and whitish and is not covered by a pseudopallium. The operculum is horny.

This species was embedded in the plates of an interradius of a sea star (Anseropoda Nardo, 1834). The visceral region offers only a small number of whorls. At the base of the spire, there is the mantle, below which protrude two very well-developed tentacles; we do not perceive any eye spots. Behind this cephalic region, a very reduced foot is distinguishable, bearing a small horny operculum on its dorsal surface. Between the foot and the tentacular region, an enormous cylindrical proboscis arises, whose length reaches 7 mm, and which is consequently larger than the height of the visceral spire; its diameter is approximately one millimeter and its wall appears to be equipped with very strong musculature. At a certain distance from its base, and below the foot and tentacles, the proboscis is equipped with a truncated conical collar that completely surrounds it. This collar, more or less membranous, represents a poorly developed pseudopallium, which, when fully expanded in the living animal, did not reach or could barely cover the base of the shell. ^[2]

Distribution

This marine species occurs off Singapore.