Engina alveolata is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Pisaniidae.
Description Shell size attains 25 mm.
The shell is white in colour and striking in its ornamentation, being decorated with double rows of black nodules that alternate with intermediate rows of reddish-orange nodules. The columella is a deep reddish-brown and distinctly denticulate, turning lirate as it extends onto the parietal wall. The operculum is relatively small and translucent yellowish-brown, though it features a prominent dark brown central zone and a basal nucleus. Anatomically, the radula is equipped with pentacuspid rachidians and tricuspid laterals.
In some individuals, the characteristic reddish-orange nodules are occasionally missing altogether. It is precisely upon this variant form that the holotype Purpura alveolata was originally based.
Distribution This species is rather common throughout the Pacific; also occurring off Queensland, Australia.
References
Drivas, J. & Jay, M. (1988). Coquillages de La Réunion et de l'Île Maurice. Collection les beautés de la nature. Delachaux et Niestlé: Neuchâtel. ISBN 2-603-00654-1. pp. 1-160. Fraussen, K.; Chino, M. (2011). Notes about Engina J.E. Gray, 1839 (Gastropoda: Buccinidae) with description of three new species from the West Pacific. Visaya. 3 (3): 63-75.
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