Pusionella nifat (Bruguière 1789)

Pusionella nifat is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Clavatulidae.^[1][2]

Pusionella nifat var. scalarina, the shouldered form

Description

The whorls are usually narrowly shouldered above. The shell is whitish under a light olivaceous, thin epidermis, with several revolving series of square chestnut spots. The base is constricted, with a few engraved striae. The shouldered form is Pusionella nifat scalarina^[3]

This species differs from Pusionella vulpina by its median white band.^[3]

Distribution

This species occurs in the Atlantic Ocean off West Africa (Gabon, Cameroon) and Angola. Living species have been dredged up in the Mediterranean Sea off Algeria.^[3]

References

• Lamarck J.B. (1816). Liste des objets représentés dans les planches de cette livraison. In: Tableau encyclopédique et méthodique des trois règnes de la Nature. Mollusques et Polypes divers. Agasse, Paris. 16 pp.
• Gofas, S.; Afonso, J.P.; Brandào, M. (Ed.). (S.a.). Conchas e Moluscos de Angola = Coquillages et Mollusques d'Angola. [Shells and molluscs of Angola]. Universidade Agostinho / Elf Aquitaine Angola: Angola. 140 pp.
• Bernard, P.A. (Ed.) (1984). Coquillages du Gabon [Shells of Gabon]. Pierre A. Bernard: Libreville, Gabon. 140, 75 plates pp.