Bullata

Taxobox
name = "Bullata"

---

regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Gastropoda
subclassis = Orthogastropoda
superordo = Caenogastropoda
ordo = Sorbeoconcha
subordo = Hypsogastropoda
infraordo = Neogastropoda
familia = Marginellidae
subfamilia = Marginellinae
genus = "Bullata"
genus_authority = Jousseaume, 1875
synonyms = "Bullata" Jousseaume, 1875 167, 250
"Marginella", subg. "Volutella" Swainson, 1830 :(2)1, "Marginella" pl.1 (non Perry, 1810) : [TS: "Marginella bullata" Lamarck, 1822, = "Voluta bullata" Born, 1778; OD]
"Gibberulina" Monterosato, 1884:139 [invalid emendation, as "nom. sost."]

"Bullata" is a genus of small to large sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Marginellidae, the margin snails.

Distribution

This is a tropical western Atlantic genus.

Habitat

Representatives from this genus have been recorded at depths from 1 to 60 m.

Shell description

The shells of species in this genus are moderately large to very large, range size from 14 mm ("Bullata largillieri", smallest species of "Bullata") to 97.9 mm (largest specimen known of "Bullata bullata"). (pl I)

The shell color is a yellowish-orange to orange- or pinkish-brown, spirally banded (pl II) or with white spots (pl III). The lip is pink, yellow, or orange, darker than shell color (pl IV).

The shell surface is smooth and glossy.

The shape is elliptical to oblong or , moderately to strongly shouldered (pl V bottom). The spire is immersed or near so (pl V top). The aperture is narrow to moderately broad, wider anteriorly. The lip is moderately strongly thickened, weakly to strongly denticulate in adults, with a distinct external varix. A siphonal notch is present but a posterior notch is absent. The parietal callusing is weakly to strongly developed, especially posteriorly, and is absent in type species. The columella has four continuous plications occupying less than half the aperture length. The internal whorls are unmodified. (pl VI/VII)

Plates

Remarks

The large, patterned shells with an immersed spire and 4 moderately heavy columellar plications which are not crowded anteriorly, serve to distinguish this group of species. This genus is restricted to the Caribbean province, where it evolved in the Miocene as a direct offshoot of "Prunum".

Coan (1965:189) placed "Cryptospyra" as a subgenus of "Bullata". Coovert & Coovert (1995:93) consider as distinct genus, as they have separate origins: "Bullata" is a direct descendant of Caribbean "Prunum", whereas "Cryptospira" is restricted to the western Indo-Pacific where it evolved.

Species within the genus "Bullata"

* "Bullata analuciae" de Souza & Coovert, 2001
* "Bullata bullata" (Born, 1778) T
* "Bullata largillieri" (Kiener, 1834)
* "Bullata lilacina" (Sowerby II, 1846)
* "Bullata mathewsi" (van Mol & Tursch, 1967)
* "Bullata guerrinii" de Souza & Coovert, 2001

References

* 1965. "A proposed reclassification of the Family Marginellidae". The Veliger 7(3): 184-194
* 1995. "Revision of the Supraspecific Classification of Marginelliform Gastropods". The Nautilus Vol. 109, No. 2 and 3; 43-110
* 2001. "Revision of the Recent species of Bullata Jousseaume, 1875" (Gastropoda: Marginellidae) with the description of two new species. "The Nautilus" 115(1): 1-14. (latest generic review)