Kingdom Animalia Clade Vetigastropoda Family Trochidae Genus Bankivia | Class Gastropoda Superfamily Trochoidea Phylum Mollusca Rank Species | |
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Similar Ethminolia, Phasianella, Phasianella australis, Austrocochlea, Clanculus | ||
Bankivia fasciata, common name the banded kelp shell, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Trochidae, the top snails.
Contents
Description
The length of the shell varies between 15 mm and 25 mm. The thin, imperforate, elongated shell has a turrited shape. This is a variable species in size and coloration. It is polished and shining, white, creamy or pink, with spiral bands of pink, purplish-red or purplish-brown, or narrow oblique zigzag stripes of pinkish-brown, usually with a narrow subsutural fascia of dark or pinkish. The spire is elevated and slender. The dark apex is a little blun. The about 9 whorls are, very slightly convex, and a trifle impressed below the sutures. The surface (under a lens) is very densely, finely spirally striate. The body whorl is rounded. The base of the shell shows a few concentric, separated, impressed lines. The aperture is ovate. The thin outer lipis acute. The sinuous columella is arcuate above and narrowly reflexed, obliquely truncate below.
Distribution
This marine species occurs in the Gulf of Aqaba,off Mozambique and off New South Wales to South Australia; off Tasmania