Babelomurex diadema is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails.
Description (Original description in Latin) The ovate-fusiform shell is umbilicated, and of a flesh-to-tawny coloration. The spire is produced and consists of eight whorls, which are angled in the middle. These whorls are elegantly crowned with curved, somewhat leaf-like spines, and they are adorned with crowded, squamulose transverse ridges. The body whorl is slightly ventricose and is equipped with leaf-like, jagged spines, while it contains anteriorly three transverse, scaly ridges. The aperture is oval. The inner lip is simple and straight, whereas the outer lip is sharp and ridged on the inside. The siphonal canal is open and short, being slightly curved toward the back. Finally, the umbilical region is surrounded by overlapping scales.
Distribution This marine species occurs off the Philippines; also off New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Vanuatu, Fiji and Japan.
References
Kosuge, S. (1979). Descriptions of two new subgenus and seven new species of the genus Latiaxis (Gastropoda, Mollusca). Bulletin of the Institute of Malacology, Tōkyō. 1(1): 3-8, pls 2-3. Oliverio, M. (2008). Coralliophilinae (Neogastropoda: Muricidae) from the southwest Pacific. in: Héros, V. et al. (Ed.) Tropical Deep-Sea Benthos 25. Mémoires du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (1993). 196: 481-585. Liu, J.Y. [Ruiyu] (ed.). (2008). [Checklist of marine biota of China seas]. China Science Press. 1267 pp.