Murdochella levifoliata

Murdochella levifoliata is a species of minute wentletrap, a sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk or micromollusk in the family Epitoniidae, commonly known as wentletraps

Dsitribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand. It is found off Mayor, Great Barrier, Little Barrier, the Hen and Chickens, and the Snares islands,

Habitat

This species of wentletrap is found at depths of between 35 and 175 m.

Shell description

The shell is small, with a very tall and slender spire, the whorls distinctly angled below middle whorl height, and again just above the lower suture. The protoconch is papillate, blunt tipped of two whorls, the first smooth, the second delicately axially ribbed. The whole of the post nuclear surface is crowded with crisp, obliquely retractive axial lamellae. On the base, a third spiral emerges from just below the top of the aperture, making three keels on the body whorl, the second and third being close together.

The shell coloration is uniformly creamy-buff.

The shell height is up to 5.7 mm, and width 1.6 mm.

References

• Powell A W B, New Zealand Mollusca, William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 ISBN 0-00-216906-1