''Vokesimurex wanneri'' 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 ...

Muricidae Muricidae is a large and varied taxonomic family of small to large predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks, commonly known as murex snails or rock snails. With over 1,700 living species, the Muricidae represent almost 10% of the Neog ...

, the murex snails or rock snails.MolluscaBase eds. (2023). MolluscaBase. Vokesimurex wanneri (K. Martin, 1916) †. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1627920 on 2023-06-26

Description

The small shell has a club-like shape and a few short

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 first whorl is 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 single and smooth. The next five whorls form the

teleoconch The gastropod shell is part of the body of many gastropods, including snails, a kind of mollusc. The shell is an exoskeleton, which protects from predators, mechanical damage, and dehydration, but also serves for muscle attachment and calcium ...

, which has no spiral pattern. They are convex and flat at the back, forming a sharp edge. The older whorls have thin, round ribs across them, with fine spiral striae between them. There are also three ridges and a weaker one below them. The fourth, running along the back edge is the more prominent, and there are some more subtle ones as well. The thickness of the transverse ribs is initially almost the same; only at 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 ...

emerges the

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

of the last whorl clearly. It consists of three very strong highly protruding, rounded varices, between which two transverse ribs are inserted. Between the varices, there are two more ribs, also thick and rounded, that extend to the anterior, stalk-like narrowing the body whorl. The front part of the whorl is also flatter and has a clear spiral pattern that ends at the stalk. The spiral pattern has some gaps in it, where there are two or three finer striae. The

aperture In optics, the aperture of an optical system (including a system consisting of a single lens) is the hole or opening that primarily limits light propagated through the system. More specifically, the entrance pupil as the front side image o ...

is ovoid, with a shallow groove at the back, extending into a long, straight channel at the front. The channel is almost closed at the back end. Inside the aperture one notices a bump on the right side and some short, distant ridges.Martin, K. (1916–1917). Die altmiocäne Fauna des West-Progogebirges auf Java. Sammlungen des Geologischen Reichs-Museums in Leiden, Neue Folge. 2(6-7): 223-296, pls I-V.

Distribution

Fossils of this marine species were found in

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

strata off

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

References

Bibliography

* Merle, D., Landau, B. M. & Breitenberger, A. E. (2021). New Muricidae (Mollusca, Gastropoda) from the Miocene of Java (Indonesia). Basteria. 85 (1): 21–33. Leiden. {{Taxonbar, from=Q120506927 Gastropods described in 1916 wanneri