Turricula (gastropod)

Turricula
Temporal range: Cretaceous - Recent
Fossil shells of Turricula dimidiata
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Clade: Caenogastropoda
Clade: Hypsogastropoda
Clade: Neogastropoda
Superfamily: Conoidea
Family: Clavatulidae
Genus: Turricula (gastropod)
Schumacher, 1817
Type species
Turricula flammea Schumacher, 1817
Synonyms[1]
  • Pleurotoma (Surcula)
  • Surcula H. Adams & A. Adams, 1853
  • Turris (Surcula) H. Adams & A. Adams, 1853

Turricula is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Clavatulidae.[1]

Taxonomy

Clavatulidae was raised, based on cladistic analysis, from subfamily to the family level by Rosenberg in 1998. It remained regarded as a subfamily of Turridae by several malacologists (Kantor, Sysoev).[1] until a new publication in 2011 [2]

Fossil records

This genus is known in the fossil records from the Cretaceous to the Quaternary (age range: from 70.6 to 0.0 million years ago). Fossils of species within this genus have been found all over the world.[3]

Description

The turriculated shell is fusiform with a long spire. The anal sinus is situated in the infrasutural depression above the peripheral carina. The siphonal canal is long and slightly bent. The operculum has a medio-lateral nucleus. The eyes of the animal are situated at the base of the tentacles. Radula formula : 1-0-1.[4]

Distribution

The species of this marine genus occurs in the Indo-West Pacific, from the Red Sea and east Africa to Australia (Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia).

Species

Fossil of the extinct species Surcula faxensis at the Geological Museum in Copenhagen
Five views of the shell of Turricula dimidiata (Brocchi, 1814) from the Pliocene of Italy

Species within the genusTurricula include:[3][5]

Species brought into synonymy
Further investigation needed

References

  1. 1 2 3 World Register of Marine Species: Clavatulidae. accessed 1 April 2010.
  2. P. Bouchet, Yu. I. Kantor, A. Sysoev & N. Puillandre (2011). "A new operational classification of the Conoidea (Gastropoda)". Journal of Molluscan Studies. 77 (3): 273–308. doi:10.1093/mollus/eyr017.
  3. 1 2 Fossilworks
  4. George Washington Tryon, Manual of Conchology vol. VI, p. 158; 1884 (described as the genus Surcula)
  5. WoRMS : Turricula; accessed : 28 August 2011
  6. Fossile
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/16/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.