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Parasyrinx alta
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Neogastropoda
Superfamily:	Conoidea
Family:	incertae sedis
Genus:	†Parasyrinx
Species:	†P. alta
Binomial name
	†Parasyrinx alta; (G.F. Harris, 1897)
Synonyms
	† Leucosyrinx alta (G. F. Harris, 1897); † Pleurotoma alta G. F. Harris, 1897; † Pleurotoma pagoda Hutton, 1873 (Invalid: not Pleurotoma pagoda Reeve, 1845. P. alta Harris, 1897 is replacement name);

Parasyrinx alta is an extinct species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk unassigned in the superfamily Conoidea.^[1]

Description

Dimensions: length: 18 mm; breadth 7–5 mm; length of the aperture: 10mm.

The protoconch is composed of two elevated smooth whorls. The shell contains six whorls, smooth or only marked with growth-lines. They are very strongly and acutely keeled at the periphery, and show one or two inconspicuous spiral lineations, as an individual characteristic, above or below the keel. The body whorl is subangulate in front, denoting the position of growth as the suture became developed. The aperture is ovate, contracted anteriorly, and terminates in a rather long siphonal canal. The sinus is deep, situated between the keel and the suture, but nearer the former. The columella is twisted, covered with a smooth, thin deposit of shelly enamel.^[2]

(Original description) The shell has an elongato-fusiform shape. The spire is produced. The whorls are smooth and strongly keeled near the anterior end. Below the keel it is concave, with a low obtuse spiral rib on the body whorl. The aperture is ovate, and contracted anteriorly. The siphonal canal is long, straight and narrow.^[3]

Distribution

Fossils of this marine species were found in Miocene strata in New Zealand.

References

^ MolluscaBase eds. (2022). MolluscaBase. Parasyrinx alta (G. F. Harris, 1897) †. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=831517 on 2023-01-03
^ Harris, G. F. (1897). Catalogue of Tertiary Mollusca in the Department of Geology, British Museum (Natural History). Part I. The Australasian Tertiary Mollusca. London: British Museum (Natural History). xxvi + 406 pp., 6 pls
^ Hutton, F. W. (1873). Catalogue of the Tertiary Mollusca and Echinodermata of New Zealand, in the collection of the Colonial Museum. Didsbury, Government Printer, Wellington. xvi + 48 pp.

Maxwell, P. A. (2009). Cenozoic Mollusca. pp 232–254 in Gordon, D. P. (ed.) New Zealand inventory of biodiversity. Volume one. Kingdom Animalia: Radiata, Lophotrochozoa, Deuterostomia. Canterbury University Press, Christchurch.