Alvania punctura

{{Short description|Species of gastropod}}

{{Speciesbox

| image = Alvania punctura 001.jpg

| image_caption = Shell of Alvania punctura (specimen at the Natural History Museum, Rotterdam)

| taxon = Alvania punctura

| authority = (Montagu, 1803){{WRMS source|40011|Montagu, G. (1803). Testacea Britannica, or natural history of British shells, marine, land and the fresh-water, including the most minute: systematically arranged and embellished with figures. Romsey. London pp. XXXVII + 606 + 16 pl. (dicembre):|08/09/10}}

| synonyms_ref =

| synonyms =

  • Alvania puncturata Locard, 1886 (unjustified emendation)
  • Arsenia punctura (Montagu, 1803) superseded combination
  • Alvania (Arsenia) punctura Montagu, 1803
  • Rissoa punctura (Montagu, 1803)
  • Rissoa punctura var. diversa Jeffreys, 1867 ·
  • Turbo punctura Montagu, 1803
  • Turritella dorvilleana Leach, 1852 junior subjective synonym

|display_parents= 3

}}

Alvania punctura is a species of small sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk or micromollusk in the family Rissoidae.{{WRMS species|141230|Alvania punctura (Montagu, 1803)|||Gofas, S. (2009). Alvania punctura (Montagu, 1803). In: Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S.; Rosenberg, G. World Marine Mollusca database. Accessed through the World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=141230 on 9 August 2010}}

Description

The length of the shell attains 3 mm.

(Original description) The very glossy shell has rounded whorls, rather taper in shape, and finely reticulated. The colour of the shell is transparent yellowish-white. The aperture is sub-orbicular and has a thin lip. The ridges on the body whorl do not extend over the outer lip. The shell has a small umbilical chink. The length of the shell is the tenth of an inch. Its breadth one third its length. [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/78694 Montagu, G. (1803). Testacea Britannica or natural history of British shells, marine, land, and fresh-water, including the most minute: Systematically arranged and embellished with figures. J. White, London, Vol. 1, xxxvii + 291 pp;; Vol. 2, pp. 293–606, pl. 1-16.] {{source-attribution}}

Distribution

This species occurs in the Eastern Atlantic, from Norway to the Strait of Gibraltar; intertidal to ca. 100 m depth; rare and rather local in the Western Mediterranean (Corsica, Greece) in 50-200 m. Gorringe Ridge and Ampère Seamount, rare in 265-320 m. It is absent from Baltic Sea and the eastern basin of the English Channel.

Fossils have been found in Pleistocene strata on Sicily, Italy.

References

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