The subfamily Fulgorariinae contains

sea snail Sea snails are slow-moving marine (ocean), marine gastropod Mollusca, molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the Taxonomic classification, taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguishe ...

s, marine

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

mollusk Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The ...

s in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Volutidae Volutidae, common name volutes, are a taxonomic family of predatory sea snails that range in size from 9 mm to over 500 mm. They are marine gastropod mollusks. Most of the species have no operculum. Distribution This family of sea s ...

.MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Fulgorariinae Pilsbry & Olsson, 1954. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=394992 on 2020-11-26

Description

They are characterized by a uniserial

radula The radula (; : radulae or radulas) is an anatomical structure used by mollusks for feeding, sometimes compared to a tongue. It is a minutely toothed, chitinous ribbon, which is typically used for scraping or cutting food before the food enters ...

with tricuspid teeth. Lateral cusps are thickest along the lateral edge, broader and generally longer than the central cusps. The

protoconch A protoconch (meaning first or earliest or original shell) is an embryonic or larval shell which occurs in some classes of molluscs, e.g., the initial chamber of an ammonite or the larval shell of a gastropod. In older texts it is also called " ...

is large or small, papilliform and often tilted on its vertical axis. Shells are

fusiform Fusiform (from Latin ''fusus'' ‘spindle’) means having a spindle (textiles), spindle-like shape that is wide in the middle and tapers at both ends. It is similar to the lemon (geometry), lemon-shape, but often implies a focal broadening of a ...

and show numerous irregular columellar plaits.

Distribution

Most of the species thrive in the

benthic zone The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning "the depths". ...

between 100 and 300 m on mud and

shell grit Grit is a material eaten by birds to aid in their diets and digestion. Wild birds find grit naturally while foraging, and farmers can purchase grit for their domestic fowl. There are two forms: soluble grit, which dissolves in a bird's digestive sy ...

substrate. Rare

bathyal The bathypelagic zone or bathyal zone (from Greek βαθύς (bathýs), deep) is the part of the open ocean that extends from a depth of below the ocean surface. It lies between the mesopelagic above and the abyssopelagic below. The bathypelag ...

species are brought up from 800 to 1000 m. The distribution of the Fulgorariinae extends along the East coast of

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, from throughout

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

except the

Okhotsk Sea The Sea of Okhotsk; Historically also known as , or as ; ) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, Japan's island of Hokkaido on the south, ...

, the Pacific coast, the

Japan Sea The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it ...

, the

East China Sea The East China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. China names the body of water along its eastern coast as "East Sea" (, ) due to direction, the name of "East China Sea" is otherwise ...

and the South China Sea down to the coast of

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

Fossil History

Some fulgorariid fossils can be traced back to the

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...

, but possible ancestors of recent species only appeared during the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

, from

Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...

, fossil studies show that species belonging to that subfamily occurred along both the eastern and the western margins of the northern Pacific Ocean.Mount, J. D. (1976). ''A new species of'' Fulgoraria ''(Mollusca: Gastropoda) from the Paleocene of Southern California''. Journal of Paleontology 50 (1): 86-89, pl. 1, figs. 1-5. Five taxa, related to the subgenus '' Psephaea'', are described from the

Paleocene The Paleocene ( ), or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), ...

strata In geology and related fields, a stratum (: strata) is a layer of Rock (geology), rock or sediment characterized by certain Lithology, lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by v ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, from the lower

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

to the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Volutidae Volutidae, common name volutes, are a taxonomic family of predatory sea snails that range in size from 9 mm to over 500 mm. They are marine gastropod mollusks. Most of the species have no operculum. Distribution This family of sea s ...

, the absence of planktotrophic development (in most groups) does not allow exchange of genetic material between geographically separate populations. Thus, local

inbreeding Inbreeding is the production of offspring from the mating or breeding of individuals or organisms that are closely genetic distance, related genetically. By analogy, the term is used in human reproduction, but more commonly refers to the genet ...

involves a high tendency to

speciation Speciation is the evolutionary process by which populations evolve to become distinct species. The biologist Orator F. Cook coined the term in 1906 for cladogenesis, the splitting of lineages, as opposed to anagenesis, phyletic evolution within ...

. Genera and subgenera within the Fulgorariinae: * '' Fulgoraria'' Schumacher, 1817 * ''

Saotomea ''Saotomea'' is a genus of sea snails, marine (ocean), marine gastropod mollusks in the subfamily Fulgorariinae of the family (biology), family Volutidae. Species Species within the genus ''Saotomea'' include: ; Subgenus ''Saotomea'' (''Bondare ...

'' Habe, 1943 ** ''

'' s.s. ** '' Bondarevia'' Bail & Chino, 2010 * '' Tenebrincola'' Harasewych & Kantor, 1991 * † '' Wangaluta'' Stilwell, 2016 ;Synonyms: * ''Miopleiona'' Dall, 1907 accepted as ''Fulgoraria (Psephaea)'' Crosse, 1871 : synonym of ''Fulgoraria'' Schumacher, 1817 * ''Musashia'' Hayashi, 1966 accepted as ''Fulgoraria (Musashia)'' Hayashi, 1966: synonym of ''Fulgoraria'' Schumacher, 1817

References

* Bail, P., Chino, M. & Terryn, Y. (2010). ''The Family Volutidae. The endemic Far East Asian subfamily Fulgorariinae Pilsbry & Olsson, 1954. A revision of the recent species''. In: Poppe, G. T. & Groh, K.: ''A Conchological Iconography''. 74 pp., 64 plts. ConchBooks, Hackenheim, . * Bail, P. & Poppe, G. T. (2001). '' A taxonomic introduction to the recent Volutidae''. In: Poppe, G. T. & Groh, K.: ''A Conchological Iconography''. 30 pp., 5 plts. ConchBooks, Hackenheim, . {{Taxonbar, from=Q5507888 Volutidae Protostome subfamilies