lirula

See also: Lirula

English

Lunella cinerea's whorls are spirally lirate with lirulae in the interstices.

Etymology

From Latin lirula, from lira (“ridge of soil between furrows”) + -ulus (“diminutive suffix”).

Noun

lirula (plural lirulas or lirulae)

1. A fungus of the genus Lirula, known to cause foliage diseases in conifers.
2. (malacology) A fine raised line on a mollusk shell.
   • 1903, Ralph Arnold, The Paleontology and Stratigraphy of the Marine Pliocene and Pleistocene of San Pedro, California, page 290:

     314. Seila assimilata C. B. Adams.
     Plate IV, Fig. 8
     Cerithiopsis assimilata C. B. Ad., […] Shell small, thin, turreted; nuclear whorls sinistral; whorls ten, ornamented with three prominent, sharp, equal, equidistant, raised spiral lines; interspaces between ridges crossed by numerous fine lirulas; suture indistinct; […]

3. (zoology) A tooth in the opercula of some bryozoans.

Anagrams

• Alluri