Dentalium (genus)

This article is about a genus of tusk shells. For the use of tusk shells in art and anthropology, see Dentalium shell.

Dentalium
Top: Dentalium entalis bottom: Dentalium tarentinum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Scaphopoda
Order:	Dentaliida
Family:	Dentaliidae
Genus:	Dentalium Linnaeus, 1758
Species
50, see text

Dentalium is a large genus of tooth shells or tusk shells, marine scaphopod molluscs in the family Dentaliidae.^[1] It has fifty described species.

Human use

Native Americans

The shells of Dentalium neohexagonum are known to have been used by the Chumash people at least as early as circa 1000 AD, in the Morro Bay area.^[2]

18th century European use

In pre-modern medicine, these shells were considered an excellent alkali, and apothecaries would pulverize them for use in several preparations. The shell used for this purpose was described by Joseph Pitton de Tournefort in London in the 18th century as being "of a tubular, or conical form, about 3 inches long; of a shining, greenish white; hollow; light, and divided lengthwise by parallel lines, running from top to bottom. It is about the thickness of a feather, and bears some resemblance to a canine tooth." However, it was considered at that time to be very rare, and in lieu of that, another shell was usually substituted. This was described as a multi-colored shell found in the sand where the tide had fallen; this shell was not channeled, or fluted.^[3] The large green shell to which the writer first refers must have been either Dentalium elephantinum or Dentalium aprinum, both of which are large and greenish, and live in the Indo-Pacific zone. The other shell was presumably another species, possibly Dentalium entale, which is native to Great Britain.

Species

Species within the genus Dentalium include:

• Dentalium aciculum Gould, 1859
• Dentalium adenense Ludbrook, 1954
• Dentalium agassizi Pilsbry and Sharp, 1897 stained tuskshell
• Dentalium americanum Chenu, 1843 American tuskshell
• Dentalium antillarum D'Orbigny, 1842
• Dentalium bartletti Henderson, 1920
• Dentalium calamus Dall, 1889
• Dentalium callipeplum Dall, 1889
• Dentalium callithrix Dall, 1889
• Dentalium carduum Dall, 1889
• Dentalium ceratum (Dall, 1881)
• Dentalium circumcinctum Watson, 1879
• Dentalium dalli Pilsbry and Sharp, 1897
• Dentalium diarrhox Watson, 1879
• Dentalium didymum Watson, 1879
• Dentalium eboreum Conrad, 1846
• Dentalium ecostatum T W Kirk, 1880
• Dentalium ensiculus Jeffereys, 1877
• Dentalium entale entale (Linnaeus, 1758)
• Dentalium entale stimpsoni (Henderson, 1920)
• Dentalium entale Linnaeus, 1758
• Dentalium floridense J. B. Henderson, 1920
• Dentalium glaucarena Dell, 1953
• Dentalium gouldii Dall, 1889 gould tuskshell
• Dentalium inversum Deshayes, 1825
• Dentalium laqueatum A. E. Verrill, 1885 reticulate tuskshell
• Dentalium liodon Pilsbry and Sharp, 1897
• Dentalium longitrorsum Reeve, 1842
• Dentalium meridionale Pilsbry and Sharp, 1897
• Dentalium nanum Hutton, 1873
• Dentalium neohexagonum Sharp and Pilsbry, 1897 hexagon tuskshell
• Dentalium occidentale Stimpson, 1851
• Dentalium ophiodon Dall, 1881
• Dentalium perlongum Dall, 1881
• Dentalium pilsbryi Rehder, 1942
• Dentalium pretiosum Sowerby, 1860
• Dentalium rebeccaense Henderson, 1920
• Dentalium rectius Carpenter, 1864
• Dentalium semistriolatum Guilding, 1834
• Dentalium sowerbyi Guilding, 1834
• Dentalium stenochizum Pilsbry and Sharp, 1897
• Dentalium suteri Emerson, 1954
• Dentalium taphrium Dall, 1889
• Dentalium texasianum Philippi, 1848
• Dentalium tiwhana Dell, 1953
• Dentalium tubulatum Henderson, 1920
• Dentalium vallicolens Raymond, 1904 trench tuskshell
• Dentalium vitreum Sars, 1851
• Dentalium vulgare da Costa, 1778
• Dentalium zelandicum Sowerby, 1860

References

1. ^ "dentalium". Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 2nd ed. 1989.
2. ^ Hogan, 2008
3. ^  This article incorporates content from the 1728 Cyclopaedia, a publication in the public domain.