Longchaeus acus

Longchaeus acus, common name the needle pyram, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Pyramidellidae, the pyrams and their allies.^[1][2][3]

Needle pyram
A shell of Longchaeus acus from Samoa
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Family:	Pyramidellidae
Genus:	Longchaeus
Species:	L. acus
Binomial name
Longchaeus acus (Gmelin, 1791)
Synonyms[1]
Lonchaeus acus [sic]Gmelin, 1791 Longchaeus punctatus (Férussac, 1821) Pyramidella (Longchaeus) acus (Gmelin, J.F., 1791) Pyramidella acus (Gmelin, 1791) Pyramidella maculosa Lamarck, J.B.P.A. de, 1822 Pyramidella musculosa Lamarck, J.B.P.A. de, 1816 Pyramidella punctata Schubert, H.G. & A.J. Wagner, 1829 (invalid: homonym and synonym of Pyramidella punctata Férussac, 1821) Pyramidella punctata Férussac, 1821 Voluta acus Gmelin, 1791 (original combination) Voluta guttata Link, H.F., 1807

Description

Drawing of Pyramidella acus from Manual of conchology, structural and systematic (1881)

The shell is polished. Its color is white, with dark chestnut or chocolate spots, usually arranged in three revolving series on the whorls of the teleoconch and five series on the body whorl. The columella is three-plaited with the upper plait largest. The lip is sometimes lirate within. The peripheral groove becomes in this species either obsolete or indicated by a slight angle.^[4] The length of the shell varies between 19 mm and 67 mm.

Distribution

This marine species occurs in the Indo-W Pacific (Red Sea, Tanzania, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mascarene Basin^[1] and in South East Asia, in Vietnam and Philippines).