White Triphora

Triphorids are almost always left-handed. The 5-mm (about 0.2 inch) White Triphora is characterized by its pure white color and a multispiral (many-whorled), translucent-brown protoconch (larval shell), with a reticulated sculpture on its first whorl. Other features of shell and radula also distinguish this species from its closest relatives. The shell illustrated, collected on Captiva Island by Joan Lightfoot, is a paratype, one of the specimens studied and illustrated by Emilio Rolán and Harry G. Lee in the original species description. (The shell in the photo has been coated with metal for scanning electron microscopy.) Photos by Particia A. Starkey.