Micrograzer and deposit feeder in the infralittoral. Deep water in the Canale di Sicilia (below 100m deep, Lampedusa, Carroza, 1983). Original taxon: Fossarus granulum.
Despite the globose shape of the drawing above, there are significant differences with Dall’s Cyclostrema granulum from the caribbean area.
« Shell extremely small, semiglobose; spire a little prominent; whorls 3, transversely girdled; girdles rounded, protruding; aperture rounded; umbilicus funnel-shaped, narrow; peristome continuous, distinct, sinuous under the influence of the girdles. » – G. A. Brugnone: Miscellanea malachologica. Pars prima, Palermo 1873, p.13 and fig.25 of the plate.
« Shell extremely small, semiglobose; spire a little prominent; whorls 3, transversely girdled; girdles rounded, protruding; aperture rounded; umbilicus funnel-shaped, narrow; peristome continuous, distinct, sinuous under the influence of the girdles. » – G. A. Brugnone: Miscellanea malachologica. Pars prima, Palermo 1873, p.13 and fig.25 of the plate.
« Girdles in the last whorl 7-8, wider than their interspaces; the two last ones, encircling the umbilicus, flattened. No traces of transverse striations. Colour white. » – Ibid. Protoconch of about 1 whorl, smooth on the bulbous part, and radially striated after. Transition with the teleoconch marked by a conspicuous radial costa. Presence of a very thin radial microsculpture between the spiral ribs of the teleoconch. Possible growth marks on some specimens.
Above, a shell collected at 12-15m deep, Favignana Isola, Egadi islands, W. Sicily. 1,1mm.
Giuseppe Antonio Brugnone, member of the Compagnia di Gesù, in the years of the Miscellanea Malachologica. Image found by Valerio Cimino, author of “Giuseppe Antonio Brugnone e altri scienziati nisseni”, Archivio Nisseno anno VI (11), Caltanissetta 2012, p.90. Public Domain.