Charisma latebrosa

Lore & Background

The shell of Charisma latebrosa is small, buff, globose, and perforate, with three whorls flattened beneath the suture and rounded to the base. Its sculpture includes about twenty radial puckers that undulate the summit of the body whorl but disappear before the periphery, and around the umbilicus about a dozen similar radial riblets. Fine close spiral threads parted by grooves of equal height and breadth ornament the entire surface. The aperture is simple, subcircular, slightly angled anteriorly and posteriorly. The operculum is externally concave, shelly, and multispiral, with whorls answering to those of the shell, parted by a deep sutural furrow and radially sculptured by irregular raised lines.

This marine species is endemic to Australia and occurs off Queensland. The presence off New South Wales is noted as uncertain. The species was referenced in works by Laseron (1954) and Iredale & McMichael (1962).

Reader's Guide

Charisma latebrosa is significant as a representative of the Trochidae family, illustrating the diversity of extremely small marine gastropods. Its detailed shell morphology—including radial puckers, spiral threads, and a multispiral operculum—provides taxonomic characters for distinguishing species within the genus. The species' endemic status to Queensland, with uncertain occurrence off New South Wales, highlights the need for further survey work to clarify its distribution. The references by Laseron (1954) and Iredale & McMichael (1962) establish its place in the malacological literature of Australian marine mollusks. As a minute shell, it contributes to understanding the range of sizes and sculptural patterns in trochid snails, and its description remains a baseline for future taxonomic revisions.

Did You Know?

• The shell height is 1.35 mm and diameter 1.45 mm.
• The shell has three whorls and about twenty radial puckers on the body whorl.
• This species is endemic to Australia and occurs off Queensland, with uncertain presence off New South Wales.