Turritellidae

Turritellidae
A shell of a Turritella species
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Caenogastropoda

clade Sorbeoconcha

Superfamily: Cerithioidea
Family: Turritellidae
Lovén, 1847
Diversity[1]
21 extant genera

125 extant species

Synonyms
  • Archimediellidae Starobogatov, 1982
  • Zariinae Gray, 1850

Turritellidae, common name the "tower shells" or "tower snails", is a taxonomic family of small to medium-sized sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the clade Sorbeoconcha.

These snails are filter feeders. This method of feeding is somewhat unusual among gastropod mollusks, but is very common in bivalves.

Shell description

The shells of turritellid species have whorls that are more convex and an aperture which is more circular than it is in the auger shells which are similarly high-spired. The columella is curved and the thin operculum is horny.

Anatomy of the soft parts

These snails burrow into mud or sand. The foot is relatively small.

A fossil shell of Turritella communis from a deep borehole in the Netherlands

Taxonomy

The following five subfamilies were recognized in the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005):

Genera

Genera within the family Turritellidae include:

Turritellinae
Orectospirinae
Pareorinae
Protominae
Vermiculariinae

Palaeontological locations

Turritella from the Pleistocene of Sicily.

References

  1. Strong E. E., Colgan D. J., Healy J. M., Lydeard C., Ponder W. F. & Glaubrecht M. (2011). "Phylogeny of the gastropod superfamily Cerithioidea using morphology and molecules". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 162(1): 43-89. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2010.00670.x.
  2. DeVries T. J. (2007). "Cenozoic Turritellidae (Gastropoda) from southern Peru". Journal of Paleontology 81(2): 331-351. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2007)81[331:CTGFSP]2.0.CO;2.
  3. Harzhauser M. (2007). "Oligocene and Aquitanian gastropod faunas from the Sultanate of Oman and their biogeographic implications for the western Indo-Pacific". Palaeontographica Abteilung A 280: 75-121. PDF.
  4. Baier J. (2008). "Über die Tertiärbildungen im Ulmer Raum". Documenta Naturae 168: 1-32. München. ISBN 978-3-86544-168-3.
  5. Baier J. (2008). "Ein Beitrag zur Erminger Turritellenplatte (Mittlere Schwäbische Alb, SW-Deutschland)". Jahresbericht Mitt. oberrhein. geol. Ver., N.F. 90: 9-17. Stuttgart, ISSN 0078-2947.

Further reading

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.