Turritellidae

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Family of gastropods

title: "Turritellidae" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["turritellidae", "gastropod-families"] description: "Family of gastropods" topic_path: "general/turritellidae" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turritellidae" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Family of gastropods ::

|taxon = Turritellidae |image =Turritellidae.jpg |image_caption = A shell of a Turritella species |authority = Lovén, 1847 |synonyms_ref = |synonyms =

  • Archimediellidae Starobogatov, 1982
  • Zariinae Gray, 1850 | diversity = 26 extant genera

143 extant species |subdivision_ranks = Genera |subdivision = See text |display_parents = 3

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

They 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 their apertures being more circular than it is in the auger shells, which are similarly high-spired. The columella is curved and the thin operculum has many horns.

Anatomy of the soft parts

These snails burrow into mud or sand, with their feet being relatively small. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Seashell1.jpg" caption="A medium-sized sea snail in a genus [[India"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Turritella_communis_fossiel.jpg" caption="A [[fossil]] shell of ''[[Turritella communis]]'' from a deep borehole in the [[Netherlands"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Turritella_shells_in_Vienna_Natural_History_Museum_-_IZE-2290b.jpg" caption="''[[Turritella terebra]]'' shell on display."] ::

Taxonomy

The following genera are recognised in the family Turritellidae: ;†Omalaxinae

;Orectospirinae

;Pareorinae

;Protominae

;Turritellinae

;Other

Palaeontological locations

Main article: Turritellenplatte

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Pleistocene_Turritella_Sicily.jpg" caption="''Turritella'' from the [[Pleistocene]] of [[Sicily]]."] ::

  • The Turritellenplatte of Ermingen ("Erminger Turritellenplatte" near Ulm, Germany) is situated in the northern part of the North Alpine Foreland Basin (NAFB) and is of interest for its abundance of Turritella turris gastropod shells within sedimentary deposits. The fauna of the gastropod-rich sandstone reflects mainly towards near-coastal and shallow marine conditions. Petrographical and palaeontological data allow for a correlation with this area and the Burdigalian age (Lower Miocene epoch). Based on the Sr-isotope composition of shark teeth in the area, the age of the area is about 18,5 Ma.

References

References

  1. "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Turritellidae Lovén, 1847".
  2. Baier J. (2008). "Über die Tertiärbildungen im Ulmer Raum". ''Documenta Naturae'' '''168''': 1-32. München. {{ISBN. 978-3-86544-168-3.
  3. 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.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

turritellidaegastropod-families