Aspa marginata

Aspa marginata Temporal range: Miocene - Recent PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Aspa marginata (Gmelin, 1791)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Littorinimorpha
Family:	Bursidae
Genus:	Aspa
Species:	A. marginata
Binomial name
Aspa marginata (Gmelin, 1791)
Synonyms [1]
Buccinum marginatumGmelin, 1791 Buccinum marginatumMartini, 1777 unavailable name (non-binomial) Bufonaria marginata(Gmelin, 1791) Bursa marginata(Gmelin, 1791) Eione inflata Risso, 1826 Ranella (Aspa) marginata(Martini, 1777) unavailable name (non-binomial) † Ranella brocchiiBronn, 1828 † Ranella laevigataLamarck, 1822

Aspa marginata is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Bursidae, the frog shells. ^{[1] [2]}

Description

Shells of Aspa marginata can reach a size of 20–40 millimetres (0.79–1.57 in). ^[3] These shells are quite thick, beige in color, with a smooth surface, a deep siphonal canal and a short spire.

Distribution

This marine species occurs in Western Africa, Senegal and Canary Islands. ^{[3] [2]}

Fossil shell of Aspa marginata from the Pliocene of Italy

Fossil records

This genus is known in the fossil records from the Miocene of Italy and France to the Quaternary of Namibia and Spain (age range: from 15.97 to 0.781 million years ago). ^[4]

Cultural aspects

The fossilized shells have been valued by humans and Neanderthals. ^[5]

Bibliography

• Bronn, H. G. (1827). Verzeichniss der bei dem Heidelberger Mineralien-Komptoir verkäuflichen Konchylien-, Pflanzenthier- und andern Versteinerungen. Taschenbuch für die gesammte Mineralogie. 8: 529-544.
• Bernard, P.A. (Ed.) (1984). Coquillages du Gabon [Shells of Gabon]. Pierre A. Bernard: Libreville, Gabon. 140, 75 plates
• Gofas, S.; Afonso, J.P.; Brandào, M. (Ed.). (S.a.). Conchas e Moluscos de Angola = Coquillages et Mollusques d'Angola. [Shells and molluscs of Angola]. Universidade Agostinho / Elf Aquitaine Angola: Angola. 140 pp.
• Gofas, S.; Le Renard, J.; Bouchet, P. (2001). Mollusca, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp. 180–213
• Rolán E., 2005. Malacological Fauna From The Cape Verde Archipelago. Part 1, Polyplacophora and Gastropoda.
• Beu, A. G. (2010). Neogene tonnoidean gastropods of tropical and South America: contributions to the Dominican Republic and Panama paleontology projects and uplift of the Central American isthmus. Bulletins of American Paleontology. 377-378: 1-550, pls. 1-79.

References

1. Aspa marginata (Gmelin, 1791) . WoRMS (2010). Aspa marginata (Gmelin, 1791). In: Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S.; Rosenberg, G. (2010) World Marine Mollusca database. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=476434 .
2. GBIF
3. "Aspa marginata". Gastropods.com. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
4. Fossilworks
5. Peresani, Marco, et al.: An ochered fossil marine shell from the Mousterian of Fumane Cave, Italy. PLoS ONE 8.7 (2013): e68572.

External links

• Gmelin, J.F. (1791). Caroli a Linné Systema Naturae, ed. 13. Tome 1(6). Leipzig: G.E. Beer. Retrieved 22 November 2025.
• Risso, A. (1826). Histoire naturelle des principales productions de l'Europe méridionale et particulièrement de celles des environs de Nice et des Alpes Maritimes. Tome quatrième. Paris: F.-G. Levrault.
• Lamarck, J.-B. M.]de (1822). Histoire naturelle des animaux sans vertèbres. Tome septième, 711 pp. Paris: published by the author. p. 154.
• mARTINI, F. H. W. (1777). Neues systematisches Conchylien-Cabinet. Nach der Natur gezeichnet und mit lebendigen Farben erleuchtet. III. Band. Nürnberg: Raspe.
• Sanders M.T., Merle D., Laurin M., Bonillo C. & Puillandre N. (2021 [nomenclatural availability: 2020). Raising names from the dead: a time-calibrated phylogeny of frog shells (Bursidae, Tonnoidea, Gastropoda) using mitogenomic data. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 156: 107040: 1-12]
• Kovács, Z.; Leél-Őssy, Sz.; Vicián, Z. (2023). "Ilona Valley revisited - A rich early Miocene gastropod fauna from the North Hungarian Basin". Fragmenta Palaeontologica Hungarica. 38: 1–52.
• Conchology
• Shell Canary Islands