''Turris plicata'' is an extinct

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

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 Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

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.

Description

(Original description) The thick shell is elongate and has a fusiform shape. The

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...

is high. It contains seven

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. The suture is indistinct. The whorls are marked by rounded folds, as large as the interspaces, which run slightly diagonally backward, and are crossed by distinct spiral ribs which also cover 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 is ...

. The

aperture In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. An opt ...

is elongated, widest above and tapering down to the siphonal canal.C. A. Waring. 1917. Stratigraphic and faunal relations of the Martinez to the Chico and Tejon of Southern California. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 7(4):41-124
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Distribution

Fossils of this marine species were found in

Paleogene The Paleogene ( ; British English, also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period, geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million yea ...

strata in the

Chatsworth Formation The Chatsworth Formation is a Cretaceous period sandstone geologic formation in the Simi Hills and western Santa Susana Mountains of southern California. It is found in western Los Angeles County and eastern Ventura County. The formation's th ...

, California, USA (age range:84.9 to 70.6 Ma)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turris Plicata plicata Gastropods described in 1917 Extinct gastropods