Vexillum vulpecula

Vexillum vulpecula (common name: the Little Fox Mitre) is a species of small sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Costellariidae, the ribbed miters.^[1]

Vexillum vulpecula
Vexillum vulpecula
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Neogastropoda
Superfamily:	Turbinelloidea
Family:	Costellariidae
Genus:	Vexillum
Species:	V. vulpecula
Binomial name
Vexillum vulpecula (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms[1] * [2]
Mitra vulpecula Linnaeus, 1758 Vexillum superbum Röding, P.F., 1798 Mitra bifasciata Swainson, 1821 Mitra zonalis Quoy, J.R.C. & J.P. Gaimard, 1833 Mitra crispata Küster, 1840 Mitra nodosa Swainson, W.A., 1840 Vexillum plicatissima Küster, H.C., 1840 Mitra staminea Dall, W.H., 1905 Vexillum pervariabilis Dautzenberg, Ph., 1935 Vexillum rugata Dautzenberg, Ph., 1935 Vexillum simulans Dautzenberg, Ph., 1935

Description

The shell size varies between 27 mm and 72 mm.

The shell is stoutly fusiform with a high spire. The spire is acuminated. The seven whorls are transversely impressly striated with narrow spiral grooves, sometimes smooth towards the upper part and longitudinally ribbed. The ribs are rude, obtuse, of the body whorl sometimes indistinct. The ribs become strong at the angular shoulder. The suture is channeled. The outer lip is slightly concave and lirate within. The shell is whitish or yellowish-orange, more or less banded with brown, sometimes encircled with pale reddish fillets. The base and apex are blackish. The white columella is four-plaited, stained at the upper part with black.^[3]

Distribution

This species occurs in the Indo-West Pacific near Madagascar and Mozambique and in the Pacific Ocean the Philippines, Fiji and Okinawa; also off New Caledonia and Australia (Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia).