Turricula (gastropod)

Turricula
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Caenogastropoda
cladeHypsogastropoda
clade Neogastropoda
Superfamily: Conoidea
Family: Clavatulidae
Genus: Turricula
Schumacher, 1817
Type species
Turricula flammea Schumacher, 1817
Synonyms[1]

Surcula H. Adams & A. Adams, 1853

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

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]

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.[3]

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

According to the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), the following species with accepted names are included within the genus Turricula :[4]

Species brought into synonymy
Further investigation needed

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Turricula Schumacher, 1817. 28 August 2010. Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species.
  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. George Washington Tryon, Manual of Conchology vol. VI, p. 158; 1884 (described as the genus Surcula)
  4. WoRMS : Turricula; accessed : 28 August 2011

External links