Drupella

Drupella is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails.^[1]

Drupella
Drupella cornus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Neogastropoda
Family:	Muricidae
Subfamily:	Ergalataxinae
Genus:	Drupella Thiele, 1925
Type species
Drupa cornus Röding, 1798

This genus was placed in the family Muricidae by Drivas & Jay, 1988^[2] and by Richmond, 1997.^[3]

Description

Drupella can be recognised by their extremely long, thin lateral teeth. The shells and radulae vary considerably even within species, complicating the taxonomy of the genus. The colour of the shell aperture varies from white to purple. Some species show sexual dimorphism in their radulae, with males having larger rachidian teeth than females.^[4]

Diet

Snails of this genus are specialist predators of coral polyps.^[4]

Species

Species within the genus Drupella include:

• Drupella cornus (Röding, 1798)^[5]
• Drupella eburnea (Küster, 1862)^[6]
• Drupella fragum (Blainville, 1832)^[7]
• Drupella minuta Fujioka, 1984^[8]
• Drupella rugosa (Born, 1778)^[9]
• Drupella margariticola^[10]

Species brought into synonymy

• Drupella cariosa Wood:^[11] synonym of Muricodrupa fenestrata (Blainville, 1832)
• Drupella fraga (Blainville, 1832) accepted as Drupella fragum (Blainville, 1832)
• Drupella ochrostoma (Blainville, 1832):^[12] synonym of Pascula ochrostoma (Blainville, 1832)