British Isles (rare) to Mediterranean, south to the Selvagens. Ectoparasit of unknown molluscs in the infralittoral-circalittoral – the record of 645m (Aarsten & al., 1998) from a dredging in the Selvagens could be attributed to some downslope material transportation. Original taxon: Rissoa excavata.
The species in Forbes & Hanley: A history of British Mollusca and their shells vol. IV, London 1853, plate XCVII via BHL.
The species is rather constant in shape and sculpture.
Čiovo island, Split-Dalmatia Comitat, S. Croatia. 1,9mm.
Original pictures provided by P. Ugarković (HR).
– (CC BY-NC-SA) –
« Turreted ; whorls flattish, scalar, clathrated throughout by remote longitudinal and spiral costellae, of which last there are four on the body, two of which are continued on the smaller turns. » – Forbes & Hanley: op. cit. vol. III p.305.
Protoconch paucispiral of about 1 whorl.
30m deep, Punta de la Mona, La Herradura, Granada, Andalucia, S. Spain. 3-3,1mm.
Forbes & Hanley: « This shell is of a slightly transparent uniform white hue, is more or less strong, and has a shortened turreted figure. Numerous slender but rather distant longitudinal costellae, which are very prominent and nearly perpendicular, continue quite down to the anterior termination of the shell. These upon the superior volutions are crossed by an equally prominent spiral costella rather below the middle of the whorl, and by a less distinct one just at the top ; two additional ones encircle the body, one of them on a level with the junction of the outer lip, the other about as far below the last mentioned as that is distant from the preceding one. There are six whorls, […] rather high, […] scalariform above, flattish or even retuse in the middle, and abruptly shelving below. […] The apex is obtuse ; the suture but little oblique. The base is short and its surface flattish ; there is no perforation, but often a slight chink. »
