''Turris worcesteri'' is an extinct

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), 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 ...

of sea snail, a marine gastropod

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 es ...

in the

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

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

Dimensions: altitude of shell 10 mm; altitude of spire 1 mm; maximum diameter of shell 11 mm; angle of spire 41. (Original description) The shell is small or slender and contains six or 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 flo ...

s. The middle portion of the whorls are marked by broad, sharply angulated, revolving folds. On the surface between these folds and the suture are two revolving ribs. The body whorl is ornamented with 14 revolving ribs with interspaces of equal width. The first two ribs just below the prominent revolving fold are moderately prominent, the others decreasing in size as they approach the anterior end. 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 ...

is elongate-elliptical, wider posteriorly. 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 short, wide and twisted to the left. The inner

lip The lips are the visible body part at the mouth of many animals, including humans. Lips are soft, movable, and serve as the opening for food intake and in the articulation of sound and speech. Human lips are a tactile sensory organ, and can be ...

is calloused. This species differs from ''Turris thurstonensis'' (Weaver, 1916) in the fact that in all specimens of the species there are two constant revolving ribs between the suture and the angulated portion of the whorls. The intercalary threads are also absent between the revolving threads. The adult specimens of the species are smaller than in the case of ''Turris thurstonensis.''K. E. Van Winkle. 1918. Paleontology of the Oligocene of the Chehalis Valley, Washington. University of Washington Publications in Geology 1(2):69-97
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Distribution

Fossils of this marine species were found in

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

strata in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, USA. (Age range: 37.2 to 33.9 Ma).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turris Worcesteri worcesteri Gastropods described in 1918 Extinct gastropods