Vexillum obeliscus, common name the obelisk mitre, is a species of small sea snail, marine gastropod mollusk in the family Costellariidae, the ribbed miters.
Description
The shell size varies between 20 mm and 45 mm
(Original description) The shell is acuminately turreted. The spire is sharp. The whorls are longitudinally ribbed. The ribs are narrow and close-set. The interstices are impressly cancellated. The shell is yellowish brown, encircled with a single white line. The columella is four-plaited. The base is recurved in a twisted manner.
The shell is chestnut-brown, with a central white band, and sometimes an inferior narrower one.
The shells are extremely variable in sculpture and other morphological features.
Distribution
This species is distributed in the Red Sea and in the Indian Ocean along the Mascarene Basin and Madagascar; in the Pacific Ocean along New Guinea, New Caledonia, Fiji and the Solomons Islands.
References
Drivas, J. & M. Jay (1988). Coquillages de La Réunion et de l'île Maurice
Turner H. 2001. Katalog der Familie Costellariidae Macdonald, 1860. Conchbooks. 1-100 page(s): 48
External links
Liénard, Élizé. Catalogue de la faune malacologique de l'île Maurice et de ses dépendances comprenant les îles Seychelles, le groupe de Chagos composé de Diego-Garcia, Six-îles, Pèros-Banhos, Salomon, etc., l'île Rodrigues, l'île de Cargados ou Saint-Brandon. J. Tremblay, 1877. Nevill, G. & Nevill, H. (1875). Descriptions of new marine Mollusca from the Indian Ocean. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 44(2): 83-104, pls. 7-8. Ladd, H.S. (1977). Cenozoic fossil mollusks from western Pacific islands; Gastropods (Eratoidae through Harpidae). U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper. 533: i–iv, 1–84, pls 1–23