Vexillum obeliscus, common name the obelisk mitre, is a species of small sea snail, marine gastropod mollusk in the family Costellariidae, the ribbed miters.
Description The shell size varies between 20 mm and 45 mm.
(Original description) The shell is acuminately turreted. The spire is sharp. The whorls are longitudinally ribbed. The ribs are narrow and close-set. The interstices are impressly cancellated. The shell is yellowish brown, encircled with a single white line. The columella is four-plaited. The base is recurved in a twisted manner.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.
The shell is chestnut-brown, with a central white band, and sometimes an inferior narrower one.Tryon (1882), Manual of Conchology IV
The shells are extremely variable in sculpture and other morphological features. Cernohorsky, Walter Oliver. The Mitridae of Fiji; The veliger vol. 8 (1965)
Distribution This species is distributed in the Red Sea and in the Indian Ocean along the Mascarene Basin and Madagascar; in the Pacific Ocean along New Guinea, New Caledonia, Fiji and the Solomons Islands.
References
Drivas, J. & M. Jay (1988). Coquillages de La Réunion et de l'île Maurice Turner H. 2001. Katalog der Familie Costellariidae Macdonald, 1860. Conchbooks. 1-100 page(s): 48
External links
Liénard, Élizé. Catalogue de la faune malacologique de l'île Maurice et de ses dépendances comprenant les îles Seychelles, le groupe de Chagos composé de Diego-Garcia, Six-îles, Pèros-Banhos, Salomon, etc., l'île Rodrigues, l'île de Cargados ou Saint-Brandon. J. Tremblay, 1877. Nevill, G. & Nevill, H. (1875). Descriptions of new marine Mollusca from the Indian Ocean. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 44(2): 83-104, pls. 7-8. Ladd, H.S. (1977). Cenozoic fossil mollusks from western Pacific islands; Gastropods (Eratoidae through Harpidae). U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper. 533: i–iv, 1–84, pls 1–23