''Turbo heterocheilus'' is a species of

sea snail Sea snail is a common name for slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguished from snails primarily by the ...

, marine

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusk in the family Turbinidae. Taxonomic status: Some authors place the name in the subgenus ''Turbo (Marmarostoma)''

Description

(Original description by

G.W. Tryon George Washington Tryon Jr. (20 May 1838 – 5 February 1888) was an American malacologist who worked at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. Biography George Washington Tryon was the son of Edward K. Tryon and Adeline Savid ...

) The length of the shell varies between 19 mm and 37 mm. The solid, subimperforate shell has a turbinate-conic shape. its color pattern is soiled white, above longitudinally flammulated with greenish and brown, the base irregularly maculated with the same colors. In color, too, the forms are diverse. The sculpture consistis of spiral

lira Lira is the name of several currency units. It is the current currency of Turkey and also the local name of the currencies of Lebanon and of Syria. It is also the name of several former currencies, including those of Italy, Malta and Israe ...

e cut into regular close rounded beads. The interstices between the principal lirae are occupied by beaded lirulae, or, on the upper

whorl A whorl ( or ) is an individual circle, oval, volution or equivalent in a whorled pattern, which consists of a spiral or multiple concentric objects (including circles, ovals and arcs). Whorls in nature File:Photograph and axial plane floral ...

s by very close regular small folds, in the direction of incremental lines, the surfaces of which show traces of microscopic impressed spiral lines. The lirae number about 20 on the

body whorl The body whorl is part of the morphology of the shell in those gastropod mollusks that possess a coiled shell. The term is also sometimes used in a similar way to describe the shell of a cephalopod mollusk. In gastropods In gastropods, the b ...

. Three or four lirae about the peripheral region are more prominent; those of the base are subequal, and less conspicuous. The sculpture also becomes obsolescent toward the termination of the body whorl. The conic spire is small and acute. The sutures are subcanaliculate, with a beaded border. The 5½-6 whorls are quite convex, and rapidly increasing. The body whorl is large, convex, and slightly descending anteriorly. The aperture is about half the total altitude of the shell, oblique, oval, rounded above and below, silvery within. The outer lip is acute, rather thin, regularly arcuate. The columellar callus continues upon the parietal wall, forming a regularly arcuate inner lip. The parietal callus is dilated upon the body whorl in front of the aperture. The columella is rounded, the lip slightly everted, partly covering the umbilical fissure, which is encircled by a spiral ridge terminating at the base of the columella.G.W. Tryon (1888), Manual of Conchology X; Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia
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Distribution

This marine species occurs off Thailand and the Philippines.

References

* Alf A. & Kreipl K. (2003). ''A Conchological Iconography: The Family Turbinidae, Subfamily Turbininae, Genus Turbo''. Conchbooks, Hackenheim Germany. * Williams, S.T. (2007). ''Origins and diversification of Indo-West Pacific marine fauna: evolutionary history and biogeography of turban shells (Gastropoda, Turbinidae). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 92, 573–592''.

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q7853851 heterocheilus Gastropods described in 1888