Gracilipurpura craticulata
(Bucquoy & Dautzenberg, 1882)
Western Mediterranean.
Predator in the low infralittoral and circalittoral.
 
The taxon is based on Murex craticulatus Brocchi, 1814:
« We think it useful to create this genus for a group of shells classified by the authors sometimes in the genus Murex, sometimes in the genus Fusus, and whose type would be the Murex craticulatus Brocchi. This species offers, indeed, certain characters which connect it to the Murex, like the closed canal, the varicose and frizzy longitudinal ribs, and others which bring it closer to the Fusus, like its general shape and its sharp labrum. » – Bucquoy, Dautzenberg & Dollfus: Les mollusques marins du Roussillon vol. I, Paris 1882, p.33 – Synonym: craticuloides Vokes, 1964.

50m deep, Málaga, Andalucia, S. Spain. 27-28mm.
« The synonymy of this species is quite complicated. It should not be confused, as did Blainville and Philippi (1st edition), with the Murex (Turbinella) craticulatus Linnaeus, which is a tropical species of the genus Latirus (see Hanley), or as did Granger, with the Trophon craticulatum Fabricius, which is an entirely different shell inhabiting Greenland. The Marquis de Monterosato passed this species into the genus Trophon, and had to change its specific name, in order to prevent it from being confounded with Tr. Craticulatum Fabr. But as, according to us, this species is no more a Trophon than a Murex or a Fusus, we preferred to create a new genus, and to preserve the name given to it by Brocchi. »ibid. p.34.

30-40m deep, Málaga. 30mm.
« Shell fusiform, conical, with a pointed spire. Whorls angular at their upper part, furnished with rounded longitudinal varicose ribs, rather numerous and with rough decurrent striations. Last whorl very convex. Aperture oval terminated at its base by a fairly long, strong, slightly tortuous canal and closed previously. Labrum moderately sharp, angular at its summit. Colour greyish or tawny, aperture whitish. – Variations: we have not observed in this species any variant which deserves to be pointed out. »

80m deep, off Almería, Andalucia. 25mm.
Five shells from Málaga. 80-100m deep. 23-25mm.
30-40m deep, Málaga. 24-28mm.
Murex craticulatus in G. Brocchi: Conchiologia fossile subapennina, Milano 1814, plate VII fig.14.
 
13- Murex imbricatus (Ocinebrina), Pliocene fossil;
14- Murex craticulatus, extant since the Miocene;
15- Murex cristatus, extant since the Paleocene (61,7M);
16- Murex angulosus (Janiopsis), Pliocene fossil;
17- Murex horridus (Typhis), Pliocene fossil.
Animal yellow with white dots. Subadult from 55m deep, Vir island, north of Zadar, Croatia. 13mm. Original picture provided by P. Ugarković (HR) – (CC BY-NC-SA).

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