Turritella
Fossil range[1]
Display parents3
TaxonTurritella
AuthorityLamarck, 1799[2]
Synonyms
  • Colpospirella Powell, 1951
  • Haustator (Kurosioia) Ida, 1952
  • Proto Blainville, 1824 (Invalid: junior homonym of Proto Leach, 1814 [Crustacea])
  • Torcula Gray, 1847
  • Turritella (Eglisia) Gray, 1847
  • Turritella (Haustator) Montfort, 1810
  • Turritella (Mesalia) Gray, 1847
  • † Turritella (Tomyris) Michailovskij, 1912 †· accepted, alternate representation
  • Turritella (Torcula) Gray, 1847
  • Turritella (Zaria) Gray, 1847
  • Zaria Gray, 1847

Turritella is a genus of medium-sized sea snails with an operculum, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Turritellidae.[3]

They have tightly coiled shells, whose overall shape is basically that of an elongated cone.

The name Turritella comes from the Latin word turritus 'turreted, towered' and the diminutive suffix -ella.[4]

Species

Valid

Valid species within the genus Turritella are listed below. Fossil species are marked with a dagger "†".

Invalid

These are species assigned to Turritella that were brought into synonymy with other taxa:

  • Turritella (Torcula) Gray, 1847: synonym of Turritella Lamarck, 1799
  • Turritella (Torcula) cochlea Reeve, 1849: synonym of Turritella cochlea Reeve, 1849
  • Turritella acicula Stimpson, 1851: synonym of Turritellopsis stimpsoni (Dall, 1919)
  • Turritella alternata Say, 1822: synonym of Bittiolum alternatum (Say, 1822)
  • † Turritella andenensis Otuka, 1934: synonym of Neohaustator andenensis (Otuka, 1934)
  • Turritella aquila Reeve, 1849: synonym of Turritella conspersa Adams & Reeve, 1850
  • Turritella areolata Stimpson, 1851: synonym of Tachyrhynchus reticulatus (Mighels & Adams, 1842)
  • Turritella auricincta Martens, 1875:[83] synonym of Turritella aurocincta Martens, 1875
  • Turritella bicolor Adams & Reeve, 1850: synonym of Turritella cingulifera G.B. Sowerby I, 1825
  • Turritella brevialis Lamarck, 1822: synonym of Mesalia brevialis (Lamarck, 1822)
  • Turritella canaliculata Adams & Reeve, 1850: synonym of Turritella cingulifera G.B. Sowerby I, 1825
  • Turritella candida Reeve, 1849: synonym of Turritella gemmata Reeve, 1849
  • Turritella cingulata Sowerby, 1825[84] is a synonym of Incatella cingulata (Sowerby, 1825)[35]
  • Turritella concava Say, 1826: synonym of Terebra concava (Say, 1826)
  • Turritella costulata Mighels & Adams, 1842: synonym of Acirsa borealis (Lyell, 1841)
  • Turritella costulata Møller, 1842: synonym of Eumetula arctica (Mørch, 1857)
  • Turritella crenulata (Donald, 1900): synonym of Colpospira joannae (Hedley, 1923)
  • Turritella erosa Couthouy, 1838: synonym of Tachyrhynchus erosus (Couthouy, 1838)
  • Turritella eschrichti Hölböll in Möller, 1842: synonym of Acirsa borealis (Lyell, 1841)
  • Turritella excavata G. B. Sowerby III, 1870: synonym of Turritella declivis Adams & Reeve in Reeve, 1849
  • Turritella flammulata Kiener, 1843-44: synonym ofTurritella ligar Deshayes, 1843
  • Turritella fortilirata G. B. Sowerby III, 1914:[85] synonym of Neohaustator fortilirata (G. B. Sowerby III, 1914)
  • Turritella gracillima Gould, 1860:[86] synonym of Turritella cingulifera G. B. Sowerby I, 1825
  • Turritella granosa Quoy & Gaimard, 1834: synonym of Opalia granosa (Quoy & Gaimard, 1834)
  • Turritella imbricata (Linnaeus, 1758): synonym of Turritella variegata (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • Turritella knysnaensis Krauss, 1848: synonym of Turritella capensis (Krauss, 1848)
  • Turritella lactea Möller, 1842: synonym of Mesalia lactea (Möller, 1842)
  • † Turritella maiquetiana Weisbord, 1962: synonym of Turritella paraguanensis Hodson, 1926
  • Turritella mediolevis Verco, 1910: synonym of Colpospira mediolevis (Verco, 1910)
  • Turritella meta Reeve, 1849:[87] synonym of Turritella gemmata
  • Turritella monterosatoi Kobelt, 1887: synonym of Turritella turbona Monterosato, 1877
  • Turritella nzimaorum Ryall & Vos, 2010:[88] synonym of Turritella caelata Mörch in Dunker, 1858
  • Turritella opalina Adams & Reeve, 1850: synonym of Mesalia opalina (Adams & Reeve, 1850)
  • Turritella opulenta Hedley, 1907: synonym of Glyptozaria opulenta (Hedley, 1907)
  • Turritella paraguanensis Hodson, 1926: synonym of Turritella variegata (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • Turritella philippi Aradas, 1842: synonym of Acirsa subdecussata (Cantraine, 1835)
  • Turritella polaris Möller, 1842: synonym of Tachyrhynchus erosus (Couthouy, 1838)
  • Turritella spina Crosse & Fischer, 1864: synonym of Cingulina spina (Crosse & Fischer, 1864)
  • Turritella reticulata Mighels & Adams, 1842: synonym of Tachyrhynchus reticulatus (Mighels & Adams, 1842)
  • Turritella spirata Sowerby I, 1825: synonym of Eglisia spirata (Sowerby I, 1825)
  • Turritella symmetrica Hutton, 1873: synonym of Stiracolpus symmetricus (Hutton, 1873)
  • Turritella trisulcata Lamarck, 1822:[89] synonym of Turritella vermicularis
  • Turritella yucatecanum Dall, 1881: synonym of Turritella yucatecana (Dall, 1881)

Fossil species

The genus is known from the Cretaceous to the Recent periods.[90]

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.

"Turritella agate"

One variety of "Turritella agate", that from the Green River Formation in Wyoming, is a fossiliferous rock which does indeed contain numerous high-spired snail shells. However, contrary to the common name, these snails are not in the marine genus Turritella, instead they are freshwater snails in the species Elimia tenera, family Pleuroceridae from the Eocene epoch.[91] The rock in which these snail shells are so abundant varies from a soft sandstone to a dense chalcedony. This dense silicified rock is popular with gem and mineral hobbyists, as well as with New Age practitioners.

Turritellenplatte

The Erminger Turritellenplatte ("Turritella plate of Ermingen") near Ulm, Germany[92] is a rocky outcrop situated in the northern part of the North Alpine Foreland Basin. It is famous for its superabundance of Turritella turris shells within its sediments[93] and dates from the Burdigalian.

References

  1. ^ Shiladri S. Das; Sandip Saha; Subhendu Bardhan; Sumanta Mallick; Warren D. Allmon (2018). "The oldest turritelline gastropods: from the Oxfordian (Upper Jurassic) of Kutch, India". Journal of Paleontology. 92 (3): 373–387. doi:10.1017/jpa.2017.89. S2CID 135438872
  2. ^ Lamarck J.-B. (1799). Mém. Soc. Hist. nat. Paris, 74.
  3. ^ Vos, C.; Gofas, S. (2013). Turritella Lamarck, 1799. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=138615 on 2013-06-02
  4. ^ Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1979.
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  13. ^ Turritella badensis at the online fossil gallery of Natural History Museum at the University of Oslo
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  29. ^ 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.
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  35. ^ 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:CTGFSP2.0.CO;2].
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  60. ^ WoRMS (2011). Turritella minuta Turton, 1932. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=536361 on 2012-06-29
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  71. ^ "†Turritella terebralis Lamarck 1799 (turret shell)". The Paleobiology Database, accessed 40 January 2010.
  72. ^ (in Czech) Pek I., Vašíček Z., Roček Z., Hajn V. & Mikuláš R. (1996). Základy zoopaleontologie. Olomouc. ISBN 80-7067-599-3.
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  79. ^ "†Turritella vertebroides Morton 1834 (turret shell)". The Paleobiology Database, accessed 40 January 2010.
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  89. ^ "Haustator Montfort, 1810". OBIS Indo-Pacific Molluscan Database, accessed 10 January 2011.
  90. ^ Mayr H. (199). A Guide to Fossils. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA.
  91. ^ Burch, J. B. (1989). North American Freshwater Snails. Malacological Publications, Hamburg, Michigan,OCLC 20559611
  92. ^ (in German) Baier J. (2008). "Ein Beitrag zur Erminger Turritellenplatte (Mittlere Schwäbische Alb, SW-Deutschland)". ["Contribution on the Erminger Turritellenplatte"]. Jahresberichte und Mitteilungen des Oberrheinischen Geologischen Vereines, Neue Folge, 90: 9-17. (with English abstract). HTML abstract Archived 2011-07-19 at the Wayback Machine
  93. ^ (in German) Baier J. (2008). "Über die Tertiärbildungen im Ulmer Raum" ["On Tertiary structures in the Ulm region"]. Documenta Naturae 168: 1-32.