Shell of the Week: The Punctate Mangelia

The family Mangeliidae includes a very large number of microgastropods, most of which parade elegant, elongate shells. Kurtziella limonitella (Dall, 1884) grows to 9.5 mm (about 0.4 inch). The shell sculpture in this species comprises about 8–9 ribs on early whorls that increase in number to 14–15 on the last whorl of adult individuals. The microsculpture consists of fine spiral cords crossed by axial grooves; the intersections form little beads that impart a frosty appearance to the shell surface. The shell may be cream-colored, often with a combination of spiral light-orange spiral bands. The shell in the image was collected by Lois Dunnam on Gulfside City Park Beach, on Sanibel, in 1996.

#kurtziellalimonitella #mangeliidae #microgastropod #spiralcord #axialgroove