Pleurotomella lottae
Pleurotomella lottae is a small sea snail in the family Raphitomidae. It was described by Verrill in 1885 and has also been called Azorilla lottae.
It has a short, oval-fusiform shell about 11.5 mm long and 7.5 mm wide. The shell shows 4.5 whorls after a large brown protoconch of about 3.5 whorls. The whorls are smoothly rounded with a shallow, noticeable suture and a slightly concave subsutural band.
The surface features about six raised, rounded revolving ridges on the penultimate whorl, with finer ridges in between. Growth lines cross these ridges, and on the subsutural band they form oblique, curved riblets. On the main part of the shell, the revolving ridges stay fairly evenly spaced, though they thicken near the front part of the shell.
The opening (aperture) is broad-oval. The outer lip is thin and strongly curved in the middle, with a shallow posterior sinus above the shoulder. The siphonal canal is short and straight. The inside edge of the opening (columella) is straight, with a slanted front edge. There is no umbilicus, and the snail lacks an operculum.
Color-wise, the protoconch whorls are deep chestnut brown with fine cross-hatching. The remaining whorls are a translucent bluish-white with a glossy surface; when the animal dies, the shell can appear yellowish-white.
Pleurotomella lottae is found off the coast of New Jersey, United States.
This page was last edited on 1 February 2026, at 23:31 (CET).