Melanella lactea

Melanella lactea
Shell of Melanella lactea(specimen at Naturalis Biodiversity center)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Order: Littorinimorpha
Family: Eulimidae
Genus: Melanella
Species:
M. lactea
Binomial name
Melanella lactea
(A. Adams, 1854)
Synonyms
  • Eulima exlactea Sacco, 1892 junior objective synonym
  • Eulima lactea A. Adams, 1854 (original combination)

Melanella lactea is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Eulimidae. The species is one of many species known to exist within the genus, Melanella.

Description

(Original description in Latin) The shell is subulate, white, opaque, solid, and polished. The spire is straight, and the whorls are flat, furnished with continuous, impressed varices on the right side. The aperture is elliptical and somewhat produced anteriorly. The lip is slightly reflexed anteriorly; the outer lip is thickened.

Distribution

This species has a wide distribution in the Indo-West Pacific; also off the Philippines, Indonesia, New Caledonia, Australia (Queensland)

References

  1. ↑ Melanella lactea (A. Adams, 1854). 9 September 2026. Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species.
  2. ↑ Adams, A. (1854). "Monographs of the genera Eulima, Niso, Leiostraca, Obeliscus, Pyramidella, and Monoptygma. In G. B. Sowerby II (ed.)". Thesaurus conchyliorum, or monographs of genera of shells. 2 (15): 799. Retrieved 9 September 2026.