Marginella bavayi

Marginella bavayi
Shell of Marginella bavayi (syntype at MNHN, Paris)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Order: Neogastropoda
Family: Marginellidae
Genus: Marginella
Species:
M. bavayi
Binomial name
Marginella bavayi
Synonyms

Marginella (Mordicamarginella) bavayi Dautzenberg, 1910· accepted, alternate representation

Marginella bavayi is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Marginellidae, the margin snails.

Description

The shell is ovate-conical, smooth, and very glossy, with a conical spire ending in an obtuse apex. It has about 4½ slightly convex whorls separated by a distinct suture, with an elongated body whorl tapering toward the base. The aperture is moderately open, and the columella bears four folds, while the outer lip is slightly arched, smooth internally, and narrowly bordered externally. The protoconch is bulbous and protruding, and the outer lip is thin, regular, and smooth or very weakly denticulate.[1][2]

The shell is pale fawn, with a broad grey band on the shoulder of the last whorl, three faint whitish transverse zones, and fine brown zigzag longitudinal lines. Additional spiral ornamentation includes broad cream-rufous to grey-beige bands separated by narrow whitish gaps, with two further grey-beige to amber-grey spiral bands on the spire and upper body whorl, sometimes marked with irregular blackish patches; sinuous black axial lines run along the shell but are interrupted at a whitish zone. The lip and columella base are white.[1][2] It attains a length of up to 8 mm.[3]

Taxonomy

Marginella bavayi is also represented as Marginella (Mordicamarginella) bavayi.[3] The species was described and named by Philippe Dautzenberg, who dedicated it to his colleague and friend M. A. Bavay.[1]

More broadly, M. bayavi has been placed within a North-West African species group characterized by a slightly developed posterior notch and strongly developed labial denticles, together with M. festiva and M. cleryi, and separated from other regional assemblages (including Angolan, Namibian, and southern African lineages) based on shell morphology and coastal distribution patterns.[4]

Distribution

M. bayavi occurs off Mauritania and Senegal.[3][5] It was first collected during a 1908 expedition, when specimens were dredged approximately 3½ miles north of Cansado Bay at a depth of 9–10 m.[1] Additional specimens have since been recorded from the Nouadhibou region and the Dakar region, from shallow coastal waters to depths of about 38 m.[2]

Habitat

M. bavayi is associated with coarse sandy substrates in shallow subtidal environments.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Actes de la Société linnéenne de Bordeaux". Actes de la Société linnéenne de Bordeaux (in French and Latin). 64. Bordeaux: Bordeaux: The Society: 83–84. 1910.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Boyer, Franck (July 2017). "Un cas d'espèces jumelles allotopiques: Marginella festiva Kiener, 1841 et M. bavayi Dautzenberg, 1910". Xenophora Taxonomy (in French). 15 – via ResearchGate.
  3. 1 2 3 Marginella bavayi Dautzenberg, 1910. Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 31 May 2010.
  4. ↑ Veldsman, Stephan G. (July 2019). Taxonomic review of the genus Marginella: dividing the African coast into marine provinces and sub-provinces (PDF) (PhD thesis). University of Pretoria. Retrieved 1 July 2026.
  5. ↑ "The Conchological Desk | | Conchology, Marginella bavayi MARGINELLIDAE, Marginella bavayi". conchology.be. Retrieved 1 July 2026.

Further reading

  • Cossignani T. (2006). Marginellidae & Cystiscidae of the World. L'Informatore Piceno.