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Mesoginella inconspicua (Sowerby, 1846)

Diagnosis: Shell small, white or yellowish white, often with a pale yellow  band below suture on body whorl; not strongly narrowed anteriorly; spire low; aperture moderately narrow, narrowing anteriorly; inside of outer lip smooth, denticulate in very mature specimens, moderately thickened internally, thickest centrally; external varix present; siphonal notch absent or weak; posterior notch weak; ventral callus absent; columella with four strong plaits occupying slightly less than half the aperture, 4^th fold slightly remote.

Size: Adults 5-6 mm in length.

Distribution: Australian Museum Collection: off Moreton Bay , Queensland , to Bass Strait.  Common in 9 – 315 metres, rarely recorded as a beach shell.

Comparison: This species has a taller spire than M. stilla but not as tall as M. translucida.  It is a subtidal species, as is M. stilla, while M. translucida is one of the common beach species.

Synonymy: None

Remarks: The specimen illustrated here (Fig. 1) was compared with the type in the British Museum by Hedley, and found to be correctly identified (Hedley, 1915, p. 272).

Fig. 1: Port Jackson, Sydney (C.036102).