Vexillum sculptile, common name the carved mitre, is a species of small sea snail, marine gastropod mollusk in the family Costellariidae, the ribbed miters.
Description The length of the shell attains 17 mm.
The elongated shell is somewhat cylindrical and a little recurved at the base. The sutures of the spire are rather impressed. The shell is longitudinally closely ridged with beautiful shining riblets. The interstices transversely strongly latticed. The decussating cancellations are so regularly disposed, with the white stramineous and fuscous zoned spiral bands that they can serve to characterize the species. The shell is whitish, faintly spotted with pale brown. The lower portion of the body whorl is pale brown, whitish at the base. The columella is five-plaited.Reeve, L. A. (1844-1845). Monograph of the genus Mitra. In: Conchologia Iconica, or, illustrations of the shells of molluscous animals, vol. 2, pl. 1-39 and unpaginated text. L. Reeve & Co., London.Melvill, J. C. (1918). Descriptions of thirty-four species of marine Mollusca from the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea, collected by Mr. F. W. Townsend. Annals and Magazine of Natural History. ser. 9, 1: 137-158, pls 4-5
Distribution This species occurs in the Persian Gulf; also off the Philippines, Indonesia and the Maldives; in the East China Sea; off the Fiji Islands, New Caledonia and Australia (Queensland).
References
Smith, E.A. 1876. A list of marine shells, chiefly from the Solomon Islands, with descriptions of several new species. Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Zoology 12: 535–562, pl. 30 Smith, E.A. 1903. Marine Mollusca. (pp. 589-630, pls. XXXV-XXXVI) in Gardiner, J.S. (ed.). The Fauna and Geography of the Maldive and Laccadive Archipelagoes, being the account of work carried on and of the collections made by an expedition during the years 1899 and 1900. Cambridge : University Press Vol. II(Part II) pp. 589–698, pls. XXXV-XLVIII). Hedley, C. 1908. Studies on Australian Mollusca. Part 10. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 33: 456–489 Schepman, M.M. 1911. The Prosobranchia of the Siboga Expedition. Part 4: Rhachiglossa. pp. 247-364, pls 18-24 in Weber, M. (ed.). Siboga Expeditie. Monograph 49. Ray, H.C. 1954. Mitres of Indian waters (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Family Mitiridae). Memoirs of the Indian Museum 14(1): 1-72 Cernohorsky, W.O. 1970. Systematics of the families Mitridae & Volutomitridae (Mollusca: Gastropoda). Bulletin of the Auckland Institute and Museum. Auckland, New Zealand 8: 1-190 Cernohorsky, W.O. 1978. Tropical Pacific marine shells. Sydney : Pacific Publications 352 pp., 68 pls. Salisbury, R.A. 1999. Costellariidae of the World, Pt. 1. Of Sea and Shore 22(3): 124-136 Wilson, B. 1994. Australian marine shells. Prosobranch gastropods. Kallaroo, WA : Odyssey Publishing Vol. 2 370 pp. Guillot de Suduiraut, E. 2000. Contribution à la connaissance de quelques gastéropides mitriformes e l'archipel des Philippines (Gastropoda: Prosobranchia: Mitridae & Costellariidae). Xenophora. Association française de conchyliologie 89: 8-12
External links Gould, A.A. 1850. Shells collected by the United States Exploring Expedition under the command of Charles Wilkes. Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History 3: 169-172