''Turricula barreti'' is an extinct

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

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 ...

, a 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 ...

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 ...

Clavatulidae Clavatulidae is a Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic family (biology), family of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea. The family is not well differentiated morphologically. Clavatulidae was raised, based on cladistic an ...

.MolluscaBase eds. (2023). MolluscaBase. Turricula barreti (de Boury, 1899) †. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1478005 on 2023-08-12

Description

The length of the shell attains 29 mm, its diameter 8.5 mm. (Original description in French) The elongated, ventricose shell contains eight to ten

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). In nature File:Photograph and axial plane floral diagra ...

s. 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 " ...

, which is broken on the

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

, is obtuse and has the form of a

proboscis A proboscis () is an elongated appendage from the head of an animal, either a vertebrate or an invertebrate. In invertebrates, the term usually refers to tubular arthropod mouthparts, mouthparts used for feeding and sucking. In vertebrates, a pr ...

. The following whorls are moderately convex and separated by a shallow, but wide open suture. At their upper part, they carry a slightly accentuated sloping ramp surmounted, near the suture, by two cords. The first whorls are adorned with nodular tubercles which soon fade and even disappear on the body whorl which only bears a kind of obtuse chain located on the angle which limits the ramp. This one is covered with very tight and wavy cords. Between the ramp and the lower suture, the tubercles which, except on the first whorls, stop at this ramp, are cut by three undulating decurrent cords, the first of which occupies the angle. Between these are distinguished small, very thin, very tight, very undulating coronets, similar to those of the ramp. The base of the shell bears similar ornamentation. The main cords are about fifteen in number and stop at a certain distance from the end of the

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 ...

which then only carries secondary cords. The

body whorl The body whorl is part of the morphology (biology), morphology of the gastropod shell, 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 ...

is very large in proportion. It has a fairly narrow opening, terminating in a long, narrow, barely twisted siphonal canal. The sinuses are wide and deep . The convex 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 ...

is very prominent.Boury, E. de. (1899). Révision des Pleurotomes éocènes du Bassin de Paris. (Suite). La Feuille des Jeunes Naturalistes. ser. 3, 29(343): 115-123
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Distribution

Fossils of this marine species were found in

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

strata in Ile-de-France, France

References

* Cossmann (M.) & Pissarro (G.), 1913 - Iconographie complète des coquilles fossiles de l'Éocène des environs de Paris, t. 2, p. pl. 46-65 * Glibert, M. (1960b) Les Conacea fossiles du Cénozoïque étranger des collections de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique. Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique Mémoire, série 2, 64, 1–132. * Le Renard (J.) & Pacaud (J.-M.), 1995 - Révision des Mollusques paléogènes du Bassin de Paris. 2 - Liste des références primaires des espèces. Cossmanniana, t. 3, vol. 3, p. 65-132 barreti Gastropods described in 1899 {{paleo-gastropod-stub