''Tritonium'' 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 ...

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 ...

Cancellariidae Cancellariidae, common name the nutmeg snails or nutmeg shells, are a family (biology), family of small to medium-large sea snails, marine (ocean), marine gastropod mollusks in the clade Neogastropoda. Some of the shells of the species in this ...

, commonly known as the nutmeg snails. The genus name Tritonium has been given twice to species with a different type species : * ''Tritonium'' O.F. Müller, 1776 : type species ''

Buccinum undatum ''Buccinum undatum'', the common whelk or the waved buccinum, is a large, edible Marine (ocean), marine gastropod in the family (biology), family Buccinidae, the "true whelks".Fraussen, K.; Gofas, S. (2014). Buccinum undatum Linnaeus, 1758. Acces ...

'' Linnaeus, 1758 (given by Stewart in 1926); this makes this name an objective synonym of ''

Buccinum ''Buccinum'' is a genus of medium-sized sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Buccinidae, the true whelks.Gofas, S.; Bouchet, P. (2014). Buccinum Linnaeus, 1758. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.mar ...

''. * ''Tritonium'' Röding, 1798 : type species : ''Murex tritonis'' Linnaeus, 1758 (given by Cossman in 1903); this makes this name an objective synonym of ''

Charonia ''Charonia'' is a genus of very large sea snail, commonly known as Triton's trumpet or Triton snail. They are marine gastropod mollusks in the monotypic family Charoniidae. They are one of the few natural predators of the crown-of-thorns star ...

'' Gistel, 1847. Neither of these original names is valid. Confusion increased when, during the 18th and 19th century, authors added species but didn't specify to which ''Tritonium'' they belonged. The authors of the

World Register of Marine Species The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms. Content The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...

(WoRMS) have arbitrarily attributed the species now placed in Buccinidae, Muricidae, and other neogastropod families, to ''Tritonium'' O.F. Müller, 1776. The species now placed in Ranellidae and Bursidae, have been attributed to ''Tritonium'' Röding, 1798.

Species

Some of the species that used to be included within the genus ''Tritonium'' : * ''Tritonium clathratus'' (Linnaeus, 1767): synonym off ''

Boreotrophon clathratus ''Boreotrophon clathratus'', common name the clathrate trophon, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails. Description The height of the shell is in exceess of . The fusifo ...

'' (Linnaeus, 1767) * '' Tritonium submuricatum'' Schrenck, 1862: (

species inquirenda In biological classification, a ''species inquirenda'' is a species of doubtful identity requiring further investigation. The use of the term in English-language biological literature dates back to at least the early nineteenth century. The ter ...

)

References

Cancellariidae {{Cancellariidae-stub