Vitularia miliaris
shell of Vitularia miliaris (specimen at MNHN, Paris)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Order: Neogastropoda
Family: Muricidae
Subfamily: Muricopsinae
Genus: Vitularia
Species:
V. miliaris
Binomial name
Vitularia miliaris
(Gmelin, 1791)
Synonyms[1]
  • Murex alutaceus Menke, 1829
  • Murex miliaris Gmelin, 1791
  • Murex purpura Deshayes, 1843
  • Murex vitulinus Lamarck, 1816
  • Purpura scabra Schumacher, 1817
  • Transtrafer longmani Iredale, 1929
  • Vitularia asiatica Kuroda in Kira, 1962
  • Vitularia tuberculata Swainson, 1840 ·
  • Vitulina tuberculata Swainson, 1840

Vitularia miliaris is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails.[1]

Description

The length of the shell varies between 21 mm and 56 mm.

The shell is whitish or brownish with irregular rounded ribs, which are sometimes tinged with chestnut, as though in interrupted revolving bands. The whole surface is peculiarly scabrously mamillated. The ribs are more prominent and more rounded, and the form is more ventricose and proportionately shorter than in Vitularia salebrosa. [2]

Distribution

This marine species has a wide distribution: Indo-west Pacific, from Red Sea to Philippines; Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Fiji; also off Australia (Queensland, Western Australia).

References