Gemmula Contrasta
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''Gemmula'', common name the gem turrids, is a
genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of
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 ...
Turridae Turridae is a Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic family (biology), family name for a number of predatory sea snails, Marine (ocean), marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea.MolluscaBase (2018). Turridae H. Adams & A. Adams, 1853 (1838). ...
, the turrids. These snails have been recorded as fossils 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), ...
to the
Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...
(from 66.043 to 0.012 Ma). Fossils have been found all over the world.Paleobiology Database
/ref> This genus is still regarded as
paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...
and should be revised. A high number of undescribed species are estimated to belong to ''Gemmula''. Since independent “Gemmula-like” lineages are distributed all over the turrid tree, a revision of ''Gemmula'' would entail again a complete revision of the family Turridae. They are venomous with
disulfide In chemistry, a disulfide (or disulphide in British English) is a compound containing a functional group or the anion. The linkage is also called an SS-bond or sometimes a disulfide bridge and usually derived from two thiol groups. In inorg ...
-rich
polypeptide Peptides are short chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. A polypeptide is a longer, continuous, unbranched peptide chain. Polypeptides that have a molecular mass of 10,000 Da or more are called proteins. Chains of fewer than twenty ...
s in their venom ducts. These bioactive peptides are likely to become a resource for novel pharmacologically active compounds


Habitat and feeding habits

The snails in this genus occur mostly in deeper tropical waters at depths between 50 and 500m. Because of these deep habitats, little is known about their feeding habits.


Taxonomy

The ''Gemmula''
clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...
is more closely related to the clades '' Xenuroturris'', '' Turris'' and '' Lophiotoma'' than to the other clades in the former subfamily
Turrinae Turridae is a Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic family (biology), family name for a number of predatory sea snails, Marine (ocean), marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea.MolluscaBase (2018). Turridae H. Adams & A. Adams, 1853 (1838). ...
.


Description

The fusiform shell resembles ''
Drillia ''Drillia'' is a genus of small sea snails, marine (ocean), marine gastropod mollusks in the family (biology), family Drilliidae. General characteristics The shell is turriculated, with an elevated Spire (mollusc), spire, longitudinal ribs, and ...
,'' but with a thin and simple outer
lip The lips are a horizontal pair of soft appendages attached to the jaws and are the most visible part of the mouth of many animals, including humans. Mammal lips are soft, movable and serve to facilitate the ingestion of food (e.g. sucklin ...
without an anterior sulcus, and the inner lip usually simple, hardly callous. 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 polygyrate and axially costate. There are three or four embryonal whorls, the two upper ones smooth, upright, the others longitudinally ribbed. The sculpture is most emphasized in a spiral direction, often with a prominent beaded keel at or in front of the anal fasciole.The rather long
siphonal canal The siphonal canal is an anatomical feature of the shells of certain groups of sea snails within the clade Neogastropoda. Some sea marine gastropods have a soft tubular anterior extension of the mantle called a siphon through which water i ...
is narrow and tapering, sometimes curved. The sinus is straight, more or less narrow and long, terminating in a nodulous peripheral keel that is gemmate throughout. Type species : ''Pleurotoma gemmata'' Hinds, 1843 The bead-row of the fasciole readily distinguishes this genus from related forms. Between the smooth
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 " ...
and the adult whorls two or three whorls intervene with descrepant
sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
of fine arcuate longitudinal riblets. As expected from venomous species, these species have a toxoglosson
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 ...
(formula 1 + 0 +1 + 0 + 1) with a central tooth that characterizes this genus.


Species

The genus ''Gemmula'' is the largest genus in the former subfamily
Turrinae Turridae is a Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic family (biology), family name for a number of predatory sea snails, Marine (ocean), marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea.MolluscaBase (2018). Turridae H. Adams & A. Adams, 1853 (1838). ...
. Species within the genus ''Gemmula'' include: * '' Gemmula albina'' (Lamarck, 1822) * '' Gemmula alwyni'' Kilburn, 2005 * '' Gemmula amabilis'' (Weinkauff, 1875) * '' Gemmula ambara'' Olivera et al., 2008 * † '' Gemmula antedenticulata'' Lozouet, 2017 * † '' Gemmula bearrizensis'' Pacaud, 2021 * † '' Gemmula bimarginata'' (Suter, 1917) * † '' Gemmula birmanica'' Vredenburg, 1921 * † '' Gemmula brevirostris'' Lozouet, 2017 * '' Gemmula championi'' Kilburn, 1983 * '' Gemmula chinoi'' Stahlschmidt, Poppe & Tagaro, 2018 * † '' Gemmula clifdenensis'' Powell, 1942 * '' Gemmula closterion'' Sysoev, 1997 * '' Gemmula concinna'' (Dunker, 1871) * ''
Gemmula congener ''Gemmula congener'', common name Melvill's turrid, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Turridae, the turrids. Synonyms * ''Gemmula congener cosmoi'' (Sykes, 1930): synonym of '' Gemmula cosmoi'' (Sykes, 1930) * ...
'' (Smith E. A., 1894) * '' Gemmula contrasta'' Stahlschmidt, Poppe & Tagaro, 2018 * '' Gemmula cosmoi'' (Sykes, 1930) * '' Gemmula damperierana'' Powell, 1964 * † '' Gemmula denticula'' (Basterot, 1825) * '' Gemmula diomedea'' Powell, 1964 * † '' Gemmula disjuncta'' Laws, 1936 * '' Gemmula ducalis'' (Thiele, 1925) * † '' Gemmula duplex'' (Suter, 1917) * '' Gemmula fenestrata'' Kosuge, 1990 * '' Gemmula flata'' Baoquan Li & Xinzheng Li, 2008 * † '' Gemmula funiculosa'' Lozouet, 2017 * † '' Gemmula garviei'' Tracey & Craig, 2019 * '' Gemmula gemmulina'' (Martens, 1902) * '' Gemmula gilchristi'' (Sowerby III, 1902) * '' Gemmula graeffei'' (Weinkauff, 1875) * '' Gemmula grandigyrata'' Baoquan Li & Xinzheng Li, 2008 * '' Gemmula granosus'' (Helbling, 1779) * '' Gemmula hastula'' (Reeve, 1843) * '' Gemmula hawleyi'' (Iredale, 1931) * '' Gemmula hindsiana'' Berry, 1958 * '' Gemmula hombroni'' Hedley, 1922 * '' Gemmula husamaru'' (Nomura, 1940) * '' Gemmula interpolata'' Powell, 1967 * † '' Gemmula kaiparaensis'' (P. Marshall, 1918) * '' Gemmula kieneri'' (Doumet, 1840) * † '' Gemmula lawsi'' Powell, 1942 * '' Gemmula lisajoni'' Olivera, 1999 * † '' Gemmula longwoodensis'' Powell, 1942 * '' Gemmula lordhoweensis'' Kantor & Sysoev, 1991 * '' Gemmula lululimi'' Olivera, 1999 * † '' Gemmula machapoorensis'' C.J. Maury, 1925 * † '' Gemmula margaritata'' (P. Marshall, 1919) * '' Gemmula martini'' (Tesch, 1915) * '' Gemmula monilifera'' (Pease, 1860) * '' Gemmula murrayi'' Powell, 1964 * '' Gemmula mystica'' Simone, 2005 * † '' Gemmula obesa'' Lozouet, 2017 * '' Gemmula oliverai'' Stahlschmidt, Poppe & Tagaro, 2018 * † '' Gemmula orba'' Marwick, 1931 * † '' Gemmula ornata'' (P. Marshall, 1918) * † '' Gemmula osca'' Pacaud, 2021 * † '' Gemmula parkinsonii'' (Sandberger, 1860) * † '' Gemmula peraspera'' Marwick, 1931 * † '' Gemmula peyrerensis'' (Peyrot, 1931) * † '' Gemmula polita'' (P. Marshall, 1919) * '' Gemmula pseudogranosa'' (Nomura, 1940) * '' Gemmula pseudomonilifera'' Powell, 1967 * '' Gemmula pseudostupa'' Y.-P. Cheng & C.-Y. Lee, 2011 * '' Gemmula rarimaculata'' Kuroda, Habe & Oyama, 1971 * † '' Gemmula reticulata'' (P. Marshall, 1919) * '' Gemmula rosario'' Shikama, 1977 * '' Gemmula rotata'' (Brocchi, 1814) * † '' Gemmula samueli'' (Tenison Woods, 1879) * † '' Gemmula sculpturata'' Harzhauser, Raven & Landau, 2018 * '' Gemmula sibogae'' ( Schepman, 1913) * '' Gemmula sibukoensis'' Powell, 1964 * '' Gemmula sikatunai'' Olivera, 2004 * '' Gemmula sogodensis'' Olivera, 2004 * '' Gemmula speciosa'' (Reeve, 1842) * '' Gemmula stupa'' Lee, 2001 * '' Gemmula subfenestrata'' Kosuge, 1990 * † '' Gemmula tuckeri'' Tracey & Craig, 2019 * '' Gemmula vagata'' (Smith E. A., 1895) * † '' Gemmula waihaoensis'' Finlay, 1924 * '' Gemmula webberae'' Kilburn, 1975 * '' Gemmula westaustralis'' Kosuge, 1990 ;Species brought into synonymy: * ''Gemmula aethiopica'' (Thiele, 1925): synonym of '' Cryptogemma aethiopica'' (Thiele, 1925) * ''Gemmula bisinuata'' (Martens, 1901): synonym of '' Cryptogemma praesignis'' (E. A. Smith, 1895) * ''Gemmula luzonica'' (Powell, 1964): synonym of '' Cryptogemma aethiopica'' (Thiele, 1925) * ''Gemmula microscelida'' (Dall, 1895): synonym of '' Cryptogemma praesignis'' (E. A. Smith, 1895) * ''Gemmula periscelida'' (Dall, 1889): synonym of '' Cryptogemma periscelida'' (Dall, 1889) * ''Gemmula praesignis'' (Smith E. A., 1895): synonym of '' Cryptogemma praesignis'' (E. A. Smith, 1895) * ''Gemmula rotatilis'' (Martens, 1902): synonym of '' Cryptogemma praesignis'' (E. A. Smith, 1895) * ''Gemmula teschi'' (Powell, 1964): synonym of '' Cryptogemma timorensis'' (Tesch, 1915) * ''Gemmula tessellata'' Powell, 1967: synonym of '' Cryptogemma tessellata'' (Powell, 1967) * ''Gemmula thielei'' Finlay H. J., 1930: synonym of '' Cryptogemma aethiopica'' (Thiele, 1925) * ''Gemmula truncata'' (Schepman, 1913): synonym of '' Cryptogemma phymatias'' (R. B. Watson, 1886) * ''Gemmula unedo'' (Kiener, 1840): synonym of '' Unedogemmula unedo'' (Kiener, 1839) * ''Gemmula unilineata'' Powell, 1967: synonym of '' Cryptogemma unilineata'' (Powell, 1967) * ''Gemmula vicella'' Dall, 1908 accepted as '' Gymnobela vicella'' (Dall, 1908) (original combination)


References

* Powell, A.W.B. 1964. ''The Family Turridae in the Indo-Pacific. Part 1. The Subfamily Turrinae''. Indo-Pacific Mollusca 1: 227-346 * Kilburn, R.N. (1983) ''Turridae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) of southern Africa and Mozambique. Part 1. Subfamily Turrinae''. Annals of the Natal Museum, 25, 549–585.


External links


Weinkauff H.C. (1875). Ueber eine kritische Gruppe des Genus Pleurotoma Lam. sensu stricto. Jahrbücher der Deutschen Malakozoologischen Gesellschaft. 2: 285-292, pl. 9

Tucker, J.K. 2004 ''Catalog of recent and fossil turrids (Mollusca: Gastropoda)''. Zootaxa 682:1-1295.



BAOQUAN LI, XINZHENG LI, Report on the turrid genera Gemmula, Lophiotoma and Ptychosyrinx (Gastropoda: Turridae: Turrinae) from the China seas; Zootaxa Vol 1778, No 1
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3142815 Turridae Extant Danian first appearances