Clionella kraussii

Clionella kraussii is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Clavatulidae.^[1]

Clionella kraussii
A collection of shells of Clionella kraussii (museums specimens at Naturalis Biodiversity Center)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Neogastropoda
Superfamily:	Conoidea
Family:	Clavatulidae
Genus:	Clionella
Species:	C. kraussii
Binomial name
Clionella kraussii (Smith E. A., 1877)
Synonyms[1]
Clavatula kraussii (E. A. Smith, 1877) Clionella krausii (E. A. Smith, 1877) Pleurotoma krausii Smith E. A., 1877

This species was named after Ferdinand Krauss (1812–1890), author of Krauss (1848), Die südafrikanischen Mollusken, ein Beitrag zur Kenntniss der Mollusken des Kap- und Natallandes und zur geographischen Verbreitung derselben, mit Beschreibung und Abbildung der neuen Arten; Stuttgart, Ebner & Seubert, 1848.

Description

The size of an adult shell varies between 15 mm and 40 mm.

This species is easily recognized by the short subnodulous ribs, which occupy scarcely the lower half of the whorls, the depression round the middle and the raised band above, and the manner of coloration, the purplish-brown maculations being somewhat flexuous in the depression. Its nearest relation is Clionella semicostata (Kiener, 1840).^[2]

Distribution

This marine species occurs along False Bay and West Transkei, South Africa; also off Madagascar.