''Sinistrofulgur contrarium'' is a fossil

snail A snail is a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gas ...

species of the busycon whelks 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 ...

Busyconidae The Busyconidae are taxonomic family of large sea snails, often known as whelk Whelks are any of several carnivorous sea snail species with a swirling, tapered shell. Many are eaten by humans, such as the common whelk of the North Atlanti ...

. There has been some confusion about the correct taxonomy of this species, which has been confused with the extant species '' Sinistrofulgur sinistrum'' Hollister, 1958, and ''

Sinistrofulgur perversum ''Sinistrofulgur perversum'', the lightning whelk, is a species of very large predatory sea snail or whelk, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Busyconidae, the busycon whelks. This species has a left-handed or sinistral shell. It eats mos ...

'' (Linnaeus, 1758)J. Wise, M. G. Harasewych, R. T. Dillon Jr. (2004).
Population divergence in the sinistral whelks of North America, with special reference to the east Florida ecotone
(PDF; 673 kB)''. Marine Biology 145, pp. 1167–1179.

Description

Shell size of this operculated sinistral species 170 mm.

Distribution

In muddy sand with sea-grass:

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References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q884531 contrarium Gastropods described in 1840 Taxa named by Timothy Abbott Conrad