Cerithium

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title: "Cerithium" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["cerithiidae", "gastropod-genera", "articles-containing-video-clips", "extant-triassic-first-appearances"] description: "Genus of gastropods" topic_path: "general/cerithiidae" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerithium" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Genus of gastropods ::

| fossil_range = | image = Cerithium echinatum.shell001.jpg | image_caption = Two views of a shell of Cerithium echinatum, the "spiny creeper" | taxon = Cerithium | authority = Bruguière, 1789 | synonyms =

• Bayericerithium Petuch, 2001
• Cerithium (Cerithium) Bruguière, 1789· accepted, alternate representation
• † Cerithium (Chondrocerithium) Monterosato in Cossmann, 1906 · accepted, alternate representation
• • Cerithium (Conocerithium)* Sacco, 1895
• Cerithium (Contumax) Hedley, 1899
• Cerithium (Gladiocerithium) Monterosato, 1910
• Cerithium (Hirtocerithium) Monterosato, 1910
• Cerithium (Ischnocerithium) Thiele, 1929
• Cerithium (Pithocerithium) Sacco, 1895
• Cerithium (Thericium) Monterosato, 1890
• Cerithium (Vulgocerithium) Cossmann, 1895
• Colina (Ischnocerithium) Thiele, 1929
• Conocerithium Sacco, 1895
• Contumax Hedley, 1899
• Drillocerithium Monterosato, 1910
• Gladiocerithium Monterosato, 1910
• Gourmierium Jousseaume, 1894
• Gourmya (Gladiocerithium) Monterosato, 1910
• Hirtocerithium Monterosato, 1910
• † Liocerithium Sacco, 1894
• Lithocerithium Monterosato, 1910
• Rhinoclavis (Ochetoclava) Woodring, 1928
• Semivertagus Cossman
• Thericium Monterosato
• Tiaracerithium Sacco, 1895
• Ischnocerithium Thiele, 1929 |type_species = Cerithium adansonii |type_species_authority = Bruguière, 1792

Cerithium is a genus of small to medium-sized sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Cerithiidae, the ceriths.

Species

Species within this genus include:

• Cerithium abditum Houbrick, 1992
• Cerithium adustum Kiener, 1841
• Cerithium africanum Houbrick, 1992
• Cerithium albolineatum Bozzetti, 2008
• Cerithium alucastrum (Brocchi, 1814)
• Cerithium alutaceum (Gould, 1861)
• Cerithium atratum (Born, 1778)
• Cerithium atromarginatum Dautzenberg & Bouge, 1933
• Cerithium balletoni Cecalupo, 2009
• Cerithium balteatum Philippi, 1848
• Cerithium bayeri (Petuch, 2001)
• Cerithium boeticum Pease, 1860
• Cerithium browni (Bartsch, 1928)
• Cerithium buzzurroi Cecalupo, 2005
• Cerithium caeruleum Sowerby, 1855
• † Cerithium calculosum Basterot, 1825
• Cerithium cecalupoi Cossignani, 2004
• Cerithium citrinum Sowerby, 1855
• Cerithium claviforme Schepman, 1907
• Cerithium columna Sowerby, 1834
• Cerithium coralium Kiener, 1841
• Cerithium crassilabrum Krauss, 1848
• Cerithium dialeucum Philippi, 1849
• Cerithium eburneum Bruguière, 1792
• Cerithium echinatum Lamarck, 1842
• Cerithium egenum Gould, 1849
• † Cerithium excavatum Brongniart in Cuvier & Brongniart, 1822
• Cerithium flemischi Martin, 1933
• Cerithium gallapaginis G.B. Sowerby, 1855
• Cerithium gemmatum Hinds, 1844
• Cerithium georgianum Pfeffer, 1886
• Cerithium gloriosum Houbrick, 1992
• Cerithium gracilis Philippi, 1836
• Cerithium guinaicum Philippi, 1849
• Cerithium heteroclites Lamarck, 1822
• Cerithium ianthinum Gould, 1849
• Cerithium interstriatum Sowerby, 1855
• Cerithium ivani Cecalupo, 2008
• Cerithium janthinum (Gould, 1849 in 1846–50) : synonym of Cerithium zebrum Kiener, 1841
• Cerithium kobelti Dunker, 1877 : synonym of Cerithium dialeucum Philippi, 1849
• Cerithium kreukelorum van Gemert, 2012
• Cerithium leptocharactum Rehder, 1980
• Cerithium lifuense Melvill & Standen, 1895
• Cerithium lindae Petuch, 1987
• Cerithium lissum Watson, 1880
• Cerithium litteratum (Born, 1778)
• Cerithium lividulum Risso, 1826
• Cerithium lorenzi Bozzetti, 2020
• Cerithium lutosum Menke, 1828
• Cerithium maculosum Kiener, 1841
• † Cerithium madreporicola Jousseaume, 1931
• Cerithium madreporicola Jousseaume, 1930
• Cerithium mangrovum Q.-M. Sun & S.-P. Zhang, 2014
• Cerithium matukense Watson, 1886
• Cerithium mediolaeve Carpenter, 1857
• Cerithium menkei Carpenter, 1857
• † Cerithium miocanariensis Martín-González & Vera-Peláez, 2018
• Cerithium moniliferum Kiener, 1842 : synonym of Clypeomorus batillariaeformis Habe & Kosuge, 1966
• Cerithium munitum Sowerby, 1855
• Cerithium muscarum Say, 1832
• Cerithium nesioticum Pilsbry & Vanatta, 1906
• Cerithium nicaraguense Pilsbry & Lowe, 1932
• Cerithium nodulosum Bruguière, 1792
• Cerithium novaehollandiae Adams in Sowerby, 1855
• Cerithium ophioderma (Habe, 1968)
• Cerithium pacificum Houbrick, 1992
• Cerithium phoxum Watson, 1880
• Cerithium placidum Gould, 1861
• Cerithium protractum Bivona Ant. in Bivona And., 1838
• Cerithium punctatum Bruguière, 1792
• Cerithium rehderi Houbrick, 1992
• Cerithium renovatum Monterosato, 1884
• Cerithium rostratum Sowerby, 1855
• Cerithium rubus Deshayes, 1843: synonym of Cerithium echinatum Lamarck, 1822
• Cerithium rueppelli Philippi, 1848
• † Cerithium rufonodulosum E. A. Smith, 1901
• Cerithium salebrosum Sowerby, 1855
• Cerithium scabridum Philippi, 1848
• Cerithium scobiniforme Houbrick, 1992
• Cerithium spinosum Philippi, 1836
• Cerithium stercumuscarum Valenciennes, 1833
• Cerithium subscalatum Pilsbry, 1904
• † Cerithium taeniagranulosum Lozouet, 1999 †
• Cerithium tenellum Sowerby, 1855
• Cerithium torresi Smith, 1884
• Cerithium torulosum (Linnaeus, 1767)
• Cerithium traillii Sowerby, 1855
• † Cerithium trochleare Lamarck, 1804
• Cerithium tuberculatum (Linnaeus, 1767)
• Cerithium uncinatum (Gmelin, 1791)
• Cerithium virgatum Montfort, 1810 (nomen dubium)
• Cerithium vulgatum Bruguière, 1792
• Cerithium zebrum (Kiener, 1841)
• Cerithium zonatum (Wood, 1828)

Fossil records

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Cerithidae_-_Cerithium_crenatum.JPG" caption="Fossil shells of ''Cerithium crenatum'' from Pliocene of Italy"] ::

The genus is known from the Triassic to the Recent periods (age range: from 221.5 to 0.0 million years ago). Fossils shells have been found all over the world. There are about 100 extinct species including:

• Cerithium crenatum from the Pliocene of Italy
• Cerithium elegans Deshayes, 1824
• Cerithium cattleyae Baily, 1856 from Miocene of Crimea and South Russia

Gallery

File:Cerithium caeruleum 01.JPG|Cerithium caeruleum File:Cerithium columna.shell001.jpg|Cerithium columna File:Cerithium coralium 01.JPG|Cerithium coralium File:Cerithium dalli SR 02-224 02.jpg|Cerithium dalli File:Cerithium dialeucum 01.JPG|Cerithium dialeucum File:Cerithium echinatum.shell001.jpg|Cerithium echinatum File:Cerithium lifuense.shell001.jpg|Cerithium lifuense File:Cerithium litteratum (Born, 1778) (4311966772).jpg|Cerithium litteratum File:Cerithium nesioticum.jpg|Cerithium nesioticum File:Cerithium nodulosum 01.jpg|Cerithium nodulosum File:Cerithium scabridum01.JPG|Cerithium scabridum File:Cerithium scobiniforme 001.jpg|Cerithium scobiniforme File:Cerithium tenellum 002.jpg|Cerithium tenellum File:Cerithium torulosum.jpg|Cerithium torulosum File:Cerithium varicosum 01.JPG|Cerithium varicosum File:Cerithium vulgatum 02.JPG|Cerithium vulgatum

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/SeaSnails.ogv" caption="50 second video of snails (most likely ''[[Natica chemnitzi]]'' and ''[[Cerithium muscarum]]'') feeding on the sea floor in the [[Gulf of California]], [[Puerto Peñasco]], [[Mexico"] ::

References

• OBIS Indo-Pacific Molluscan Database
• A Database of Western Atlantic Marine Mollusca
• Vaught, K.C. (1989). A classification of the living Mollusca. American Malacologists: Melbourne, FL (USA). . XII, 195 pp
• Houbrick R.S. (1992). Monograph of the genus Cerithium Bruguière in the Indo-Pacific (Cerithiidae: Prosobranchia). Smithsonian contributions to Zoology 510: 1-211
• Petuch E. 2001. New Gastropods named for Frederick M. Bayer, in Recognition of his Contributions to Tropical Western Atlantic Malacology. Bulletin of the Biological Society of Washington 10 : 334-343
• Gofas, S.; Le Renard, J.; Bouchet, P. (2001). Mollusca, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp. 180–213

References

1. [[Jean Guillaume Bruguière. Bruguière]] (1789). ''Ency. Méth. (Vers)'' '''1'''(2): xv, 546.
2. Gofas, S. (2011). Cerithium Bruguière, 1789. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=137760 on 2011-10-07
3. van Gemert, L. J. (2012). ''A new'' Cerithium ''from the Philippines (Gastropoda: Cerithiidae).'' Visaya [http://www.conchbooks.de/contents/en-us/d33.html'''3''' (5)] {{Webarchive. link. (2012-11-05 : 11-14.)
4. [https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=9632 Fossilworks]
5. (in Czech) Pek I., Vašíček Z., Roček Z., Hajn. V. & Mikuláš R.: ''Základy zoopaleontologie''. - Olomouc, 1996. 264 pp., {{ISBN. 80-7067-599-3.
6. [https://science.mnhn.fr/taxon/species/cerithium/elegans ''Cerithium elegans'' at Museum National d'>Histoire Naturelle, Paris]
7. [https://www.molluscabase.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1782457 ''Cerithium cattleyae'' at MolluscaBase]

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