Turritella

Taxobox
name = "Turritella"
fossil_range= fossil range|Cretaceous|recent


image_width = 220px
image_caption = A live specimen of "Turritella communis"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Gastropoda
subclassis = Orthogastropoda
infraclassis = Apogastropoda
superordo = Caenogastropoda
ordo = Sorbeoconcha
subordo = Cerithiimorpha
superfamilia = Cerithioidea
familia = Turritellidae
genus = "Turritella"
genus_authority = Lamarck, 1799
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = "Turritella apicalis" †
"Turritella communis"
"Turritella terebralis" †

"Turritella" is a genus of medium-sized sea snails with a cow-like and an operculum, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Turritellidae. They have tighly coiled shells, whose overall shape is basically that of an elongated cone.

The shells are quite frequently found as fossils, and the carbonate stone made from large quantities of "Turritella" shells is often referred to as "Turritella limestone", or, if silicified, "Turritella agate". Both varieties of this stone are commonly sold as polished cabochons.

The Turritellenplatte of Ermingen ("Erminger Turritellenplatte" near Ulm, Germany) [ J. Baier: "Ein Beitrag zur Erminger Turritellenplatte (Mittlere Schwäbische Alb, SW-Deutschland)." - Jahresbericht Mitt. oberrhein. geol. Ver., N.F. 90, 9-17; Stuttgart, 2008. ISSN|0078-2947 ( [http://www.ogv-online.de/Publikationen/Jahresberichte/2008/nf90-1.html Abstract] )] is situated in the northern part of the North Alpine Foreland Basin (NAFB), and it is famous for its superabundance of "Turritella turris" gastropod shells within its sediments. [J. Baier: "Über die Tertiärbildungen im Ulmer Raum" - Documenta Naturae, 168, 1-32; München, 2008. ISBN 978-3-86544-168-3 ]

The genus is known from the Cretaceous to the recent periods. [(in Czech) Pek I., Vašíček Z., Roček Z., Hajn. V. & Mikuláš R.: "Základy zoopaleontologie". - Olomouc, 1996. 264 pp., ISBN 80-7067-599-3.]

References

* Mayr, Helmut. "A Guide to Fossils." Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA. 1985 (English translation 1992).