Turritella Explained

Turritella is a genus of medium-sized sea snails with an operculum, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Turritellidae.[1]

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

The name Turritella comes from the Latin word turritus meaning "turreted" or "towered" and the diminutive suffix -ella.[2]

Species

Valid

Valid species within the genus Tarantella 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:

Fossil species

The genus is known from the Cretaceous to the Recent periods.[11]

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.[12] 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[13] 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[14] and dates from the Burdigalian.

References

External links

Notes and References

  1. 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
  2. Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1979.
  3. http://www.nhm.uio.no/besokende/faste-utstillinger/fossiler/galleri/montre/english/140_356.htm Turritella badensis
  4. 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
  5. 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.
  6. http://www.paleodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?action=basicTaxonInfo&taxon_no=105433 "†Turritella terebralis Lamarck 1799 (turret shell)"
  7. Pek I., Vašíček Z., Roček Z., Hajn V. & Mikuláš R. (1996). Základy zoopaleontologie. Olomouc. .
  8. http://www.paleodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?action=basicTaxonInfo&taxon_no=62704 "†Turritella vertebroides Morton 1834 (turret shell)"
  9. DeVries T. J. (2007). "Cenozoic Turritellidae (Gastropoda) from southern Peru". Journal of Paleontology 81(2): 331-351. .
  10. http://clade.ansp.org/obis/search.php/15677 "Haustator Montfort, 1810"
  11. Mayr H. (199). A Guide to Fossils. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA.
  12. [John B. Burch|Burch, J. B.]
  13. 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
  14. Baier J. (2008). "Über die Tertiärbildungen im Ulmer Raum" ["On Tertiary structures in the Ulm region"]. Documenta Naturae 168: 1-32.

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