''Turris altispira'' is an extinct 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 ...

, a 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

Turridae Turridae is a taxonomic family name for a number of predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea. MolluscaBase (2018). Turridae H. Adams & A. Adams, 1853 (1838). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Specie ...

, the turrids. C. Hedley (1922) was of the opinion that this species may belong to the genus Turricula

Description

The length of the shell attains 21 mm. (Original description) The narrowly fusiform shell has a very high attenuate spire, which is nearly twice the length of the aperture. It contains about 13 rounded

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 flo ...

s. The suture is impressed, with a broad groove, or hollow immediately below it. The sculpture consists of well developed axial ribs, about six on a half-turn. These are crossed on the lower half of the whorl by four spirals, which nodulate the ribs. The upper slope being nearly smooth, but showing the growth lines of the sinus which occupied this position. The spiral lirae continue on the base. The aperture is narrow, contracted anteriorly into a

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 is ...

. The outer lip is imperfect.W.L. May, New Species of Fossil Shells from Table Cape; Papers and proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania, 1922
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Distribution

This extinct marine species was found in Miocene strata in Tasmania, Australia

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turris Altispira altispira Gastropods described in 1922