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A museum creator at the Queensland Museum in Australia discovered a previously unknown mollusk with an appetite for meat.
Called Amoria thorae, the creature is part of the carnivorous Volutidae family of marine snails and is a new species of Amoria, which is a type of mollusk with a wavy shell.
The Amoria species, is so rare, scientists have yet to find a live specimen and have only been left with empty shells, according to the study published in Nature.
Amoria thorae's shell is much smaller than other carnivorous volute mollusks and is a cream color with darker lines that form a wave like pattern that runs top to bottom.
The museum says the mollusk inhabited parts of Cape Moreton, Queensland and Tweed Heads, New South Wales.
A museum creator at the Queensland Museum in Australia discovered a previously unknown mollusk with an appetite for meat
Queensland Museum Curator Marine Environments (Mollusks) Dr John Healy said he long knew of a possible new species of carnivorous marine snail from the mid-eastern coast of Australia.
'I'd seen a shell of this marine snail illustrated in a book, but not officially described, so you can imagine my delight when photographing this new collection, I found not one, but two specimens of this potentially new species,' Healy said in a statement.
The Amoria thorae specimen is that of a small adult, which is nearly intact,