Turritella

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Turritella Fossil range: Cretaceous - Recent
A live specimen of Turritella communis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Mollusca Class: Gastropoda Subclass: Orthogastropoda Infraclass: Apogastropoda Superorder: Caenogastropoda Order: Sorbeoconcha Suborder: Cerithiimorpha Superfamily: Cerithioidea Family: Turritellidae Genus: Turritella
Species
Turritella apicalis † Turritella communis

Turritella is a genus of medium-sized sea snails with an operculum, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Turritellidae. They have tighly coiled shells, whose overall shape is basically that of an elongated cone.

The shells are quite frequently found as fossils, and the carbonate stone made from large quantities of Turritella shells is often referred to as "Turritella limestone", or, if silicified, "Turritella agate". Both varieties of this stone are commonly sold as polished cabochons.

The Turritellenplatte of Ermingen ("Erminger Turritellenplatte" near Ulm, Germany) is situated in the northern part of the North Alpine Foreland Basin (NAFB), and it is famous for its superabundance of Turritella turris gastropod shells within its sediments. ^[1]

Turritella species originated in the Cretaceous epoch and still exist to the present day.

[edit] References

1. ^ J. Baier: Über die Tertiärbildungen im Ulmer Raum - Documenta Naturae, 168, 1-32; München, 2008. ISBN 978-3-86544-168-3

• Mayr, Helmut. A Guide to Fossils. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA. 1985 (English translation 1992).