''Vasum'',

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often con ...

the vase snails or vase shells, is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of mostly rather large

predatory Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill ...

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 ...

s, 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 ...

s in the subfamily Vasinae within the family

Turbinellidae Turbinellidae are a family of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the clade Neogastropoda. Members of this family are predators. Distribution Species in this family are found worldwide, mostly in tropical shallow waters but some in deep w ...

.Bouchet, P. (2011). Vasum Röding, 1798. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=205505 on 15 April 2012

Shell description

Shells of species in this genus are usually somewhat large, and are usually very thick and heavy. They are often vase-shaped, in the sense that the shell of most of the species is more or less widely conical. The shells have a thick

periostracum The periostracum ( ) is a thin, organic coating (or "skin") that is the outermost layer of the shell of many shelled animals, including molluscs and brachiopods. Among molluscs, it is primarily seen in snails and clams, i.e. in gastropods an ...

, a low

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. Spire ...

s, and 2, 3 or 4 plaits on the

columella Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (, Arabic: ) was a prominent Roman writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire. His in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture and ancient Roman cuisin ...

. The shell is oval, oblong, solid, tubercular or spinose, with spinose fascicles below. The spire is short. The apex is not papillary. The aperture is oblong. 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 ...

is short and somewhat recurved. The columella contains several transverse folds in the middle. The 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 thickened and sinuous. The animal (of ''Vasum'') is slow-moving, timid and inactive, shrinking quickly within the shell on the slightest alarm. The operculum is ovate, acute, with an apical nucleus; it is very thick, claw-like, and partially free at the hind part. The dentition resembles somewhat that of the

Buccinidae The Buccinidae are a very large and diverse taxonomic family of large sea snails, often known as whelks or true whelks.Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S. (2010). Buccinidae. In: Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S.; Rosenberg, G. (2010) World Marine Mollusca database. Ac ...

, differing in the lateral teeth; it differs widely from the Nassidae, and quite as much from that of the

Fasciolariidae Fasciolariidae is a family of small to large sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Buccinoidea. Species in Fasciolariidae are commonly known as tulip snails and spindle snails. The family Fasciolariidae most likely appeared ...

Tryon (1882), Manual of Conchology IV
/ref>

Distribution

Species of this genus are circumtropical; also off Australia (

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

)

Species

Species within the genus ''Vasum'' include: * † '' Vasum aedificatum'' Guppy 1876 * † '' Vasum aquitanicum'' Peyrot, 1928 * '' Vasum armatum'' (Broderip, 1833) * '' Vasum caestus'' (Broderip, 1833) * † '' Vasum cancellatum'' (Grateloup, 1845) * ''

Vasum capitellum ''Vasum capitellum'', common name the helmet vase, is a species of medium to large sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Turbinellidae.MolluscaBase eds. (2023). MolluscaBase. Vasum capitellum (Linnaeus, 1758). Accessed through: Wo ...

'' (

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

1758 Events January–March * January 1 – Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) publishes in Stockholm the first volume (''Animalia'') of the 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', the starting point of modern zoologic ...

) * '' Vasum cassiforme'' (Kiener, 1840) * '' Vasum ceramicum'' (

) * '' Vasum crosseanum'' (Souverbie, 1875) * † '' Vasum dominicense'' Gabb 1873 * † '' Vasum elongatum'' Vokes 1970 * † '' Vasum floridanum'' T. L. McGinty, 1940 * † '' Vasum frequens'' (Mayer-Eymar, 1895) * '' Vasum globulus'' (Lamarck, 1816) * † '' Vasum gurabicum'' Maury 1917 * † '' Vasum haitensis'' Sowerby 1850 * † '' Vasum intermedium'' (Grateloup, 1832) * '' Vasum lactisfloris'' Ferrario, 1983 * '' Vasum latiriforme'' Rehder & Abbott, 1951 * '' Vasum muricatum'' (Born, 1778) * † '' Vasum omanicum'' Harzhauser, 2007 * † '' Vasum pufferi'' Emerson 1964 * † '' Vasum pugnus'' Pilsbry and Johnson 1917 * '' Vasum rhinoceros'' (Gmelin, 1791) * '' Vasum stephanti'' Emerson & Sage, 1988 * † '' Vasum subpugillare'' (d'Orbigny, 1852) * † '' Vasum suwanneensis'' Petuch 1997 * † '' Vasum tribulosum'' Vokes 1970 * '' Vasum truncatum'' (Sowerby III, 1892) * † '' Vasum tuberculatum'' Gabb 1873 * '' Vasum tubiferum'' (Anton, 1838) * ''

Vasum turbinellus ''Vasum turbinellus'' is a species of gastropods belonging to the family Turbinellidae. Description The length of the shell varies between 36.7 mm and 86 mm. The shell is yellowish white and chestnut-black, stained and obscurely bande ...

'' (

) ;Species brought into synonymy: * ''Vasum aldridgei'' Nowell-Usticke, 1969: synonym of '' Attiliosa aldridgei'' (Nowell-Usticke, 1969) * ''Vasum antiguaensis'' Usticke, 1971: synonym of '' Vasum globulus'' (Lamarck, 1816) * † ''Vasum basilicum'' Bellardi 1872: synonym of † '' Melongena basilica'' (Bellardi, 1873) *''Vasum cassidiformis'' Kiener, 1845: synonym of ''Vasum cassiforme'' (Kiener, 1840) * ''Vasum castaneum'' Röding, 1798: synonym of '' Thais (Thalessa) tuberosa'' (Röding, 1798) * † ''Vasum excrenatum'' Sacco, 1904: synonym of † '' Vasum cancellatum'' (Grateloup, 1845) * ''Vasum flindersi'' Verco, 1914: synonym of '' Altivasum flindersi'' (Verco, 1914) * † ''Vasum quirosense'' F. Hodson, 1931: synonym of † ''Vasum haitensis'' Sowerby, 1850 * ''Vasum nigra'' G. Perry, 1811: synonym of ''Vasum turbinellus'' (Linnaeus, 1758) * ''Vasum nigricans'' G. Perry, 1811: synonym of ''Vasum turbinellus'' (Linnaeus, 1758) * ''Vasum rubescens'' G. Perry, 1811: synonym of ''Vasum capitellum'' (C. Linnaeus, 1758) * ''Vasum spinosus'' G. Fischer von Waldheim, 1807 : synonym of ''Vasum ceramicum'' (C. Linnaeus, 1758) * † ''Vasum stephanense'' Peyrot, 1928 : synonym of † ''Vasum cancellatum'' (Grateloup, 1845) † * ''Vasum triangulare'' (E. A. Smith, 1902): synonym of ''Vasum truncatum triangulare'' (E. A. Smith, 1902) * ''Vasum turbinellum'' ic synonym of ''

'' (Linnaeus, 1758) * ''Vasum urna'' Röding, 1798: synonym of '' Vasum muricatum'' (Born, 1778) * ''Vasum variolaris'' J.B.P.A. Lamarck, 1822: synonym of ''Vasum turbinellus'' (Linnaeus, 1758) Image:Vasum cassiforme.jpg, '' Vasum cassiforme'' Image:Vasum ceramicum - Osaka Museum of Natural History - DSC07843.JPG, '' Vasum ceramicum'' Image:Vasum muricatum 000.jpg, '' Vasum muricatum'' Image:Vasum rhinoceros (Gmelin, 1791) (4678840223) (2).jpg, '' Vasum rhinoceros'' Image:Vasum turbinellus 01.JPG, ''

References

* W. Wenz. 1938. Handbuch der Paläozoologie; Gastropoda. Handbuch der Paläozoologie * J. R. Gardner. 1947. The Molluscan Fauna of the Alum Bluff Group of Florida. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper (142A-H)1-709 * Rehder H.A. & Abbott R.T. (1951). Some new and interesting mollusks from the deeper waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Revista de la Sociedad Malacologica "Carlos de la Torre". 8(2): 53-66, pls 8-9. * B. Wilson. 1994. Australian Marine Shells 2 * E. J. Petuch. 1997. A new gastropod fauna from an Oligocene back-reef lagoonal environment in west central Florida. The Nautilus 110(4):122-138 * J. A. Todd. 2001. Systematic list of gastropods in the Panama Paleontology Project collections. * J. J. Sepkoski. 2002. A compendium of fossil marine animal genera. Bulletins of American Paleontology 363:1-560 * M. Harzhauser. 2007. Oligocene and Aquitanian gastropod faunas from the Sultanate of Oman and their biogeographic implications for the western Indo-Pacific. Palaeontographica Abteilung A 280:75-121 * B. Landau and C. Marques da Silva. 2010. Early Pliocene gastropods of Cubagua, Venezuela: Taxonomy, palaeobiogeography and ecostratigraphy. Palaeontos 19:1-221

External links

Röding, P. F. (1798). Museum Boltenianum sive Catalogus cimeliorum e tribus regnis naturæ quæ olim collegerat Joa. Fried Bolten, M. D. p. d. per XL. annos proto physicus Hamburgensis. Pars secunda continens Conchylia sive Testacea univalvia, bivalvia & multivalvia. Trapp, Hamburg. viii, 199 pp

Schumacher, C. F. (1817). Essai d'un nouveau système des habitations des vers testacés. Schultz, Copenghagen. iv + 288 pp., 22 pls

Perry G. (1810-1811). Arcana: or the Museum of Natural History. pls. 1-48 (= 1810), pls. 49-84 (= 1811), unnumbered text pages. London: James Stratford

Swainson, W. (1835). The elements of modern conchology. Baldwin & Cradock, London, 62 pp

Abbott, R. T. (1959). The family Vasidae in the Indo-Pacific. Indo-Pacific Mollusca. 1 (1): 15-32

Abbott R.T.(1950) - The Genera Xancus and Vasum in the Western Atlantic; Johnsonia v. 2 19-32

Vokes, Emily H. "The age of the Baitoa Formation, Dominican Republic, using Mollusca for correlation." Tulane Studies in Geology and Paleontology 15.4 (1979): 105-116.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3171025 Turbinellidae