Pyrgiscus rufus (Philippi, 1836)
Norway to Canarias, Azores to Mediterranean.
Ectoparasit in the lower infralittoral and in the circalittoral.
Original taxon: Melania rufa.
Synonyms: densicostata, fasciata, spectabilis…
 
« Shell acicular, rufous, very glossy; whorls flat, adorned with longitudinal straight folds; interspaces transversely striated; columellar margin vertical. » – R. A. Philippi: Enumeratio molluscorum Siciliae vol.I, Berlin 1836, p.156.

Beachstormed, Rochelongue, Agde, Hérault, S. France. 4,6mm.
Notice the dark subsutural band and the obsolete spiral sculpture. These features can vary considerably.
Variant ex colore “fasciata” Forbes: « Shell turreted, white with a yellow band; whorls 7, flat, subangulated near the suture, adorned with longitudinal costae; ultimate whorl with 16 costae; base subangulated, smooth; aperture quadrangular. » – E. Forbes: “Report on the Mollusca and Radiata of the Aegean sea”, Reports of the British Association for the Advancement of Science for 1843, London 1844, p.189.

110m deep, among shell debris and foraminifera, off Motril, Granada, Andalucia, S. Spain. 5,5mm.
50m deep, Estepona, Málaga, Andalucia. 6-7,6mm.
Close to the previous one, this young shell from beach drift, Port-la-Nouvelle, Occitania, S. France. 3,5mm.
Original pictures provided by S. Clanzig (FR).
– (CC BY-NC-SA) –
3m deep, Stari Trogir, west of Split, Dalmatia, S. Croatia. 5mm. Original pictures provided by R. Stanić (HR).
– (CC BY-NC-SA) –

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