Bankivia fasciata

Bankivia fasciata, common name the banded kelp shell, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Trochidae, the top snails.^[1][2]

Bankivia fasciata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Vetigastropoda
Order:	Trochida
Superfamily:	Trochoidea
Family:	Trochidae
Genus:	Bankivia
Species:	B. fasciata
Binomial name
Bankivia fasciata (Menke, 1830)
Synonyms[1]
Bankivia lugubris Gould, 1861 Bankivia major A. Adams, 1853 Bankivia nitida A. Adams, 1853 Bankivia purpurascens A. Adams, 1853 Bankivia varians Krauss, 1848 Cantharidus fasciatus (Menke, 1830) Phasianella fasciata Menke, 1830 (original description) Phasianella fulminata Menke, 1830 Phasianella undatella Menke, 1830

Description

The length of the shell varies between 15 mm and 25 mm. The thin, imperforate, elongated shell has a turreted shape. This is a variable species in size and coloration. It is polished and shining, white, creamy or pink, with spiral bands of pink, purplish-red or purplish-brown, or narrow oblique zigzag stripes of pinkish-brown, usually with a narrow subsutural fascia of dark or pinkish. The spire is elevated and slender. The dark apex is a little blunt. The about 9 whorls are, very slightly convex, and a trifle impressed below the sutures. The surface (under a lens) is very densely, finely spirally striate. The body whorl is rounded. The base of the shell shows a few concentric, separated, impressed lines. The aperture is ovate. The thin outer lipis acute. The sinuous columella is arcuate above and narrowly reflexed, obliquely truncate below.^[3]

Distribution

This marine species occurs in the Gulf of Aqaba, off Mozambique and off New South Wales to South Australia, and off Tasmania