Maoritomella equispiralis

Maoritomella equispiralis Temporal range: late Oligocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Holotype from Auckland War Memorial Museum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Neogastropoda
Family:	Borsoniidae
Genus:	Maoritomella
Species:	†M. equispiralis
Binomial name
†Maoritomella equispiralis A. W. B. Powell, 1944

Maoritomella equispiralis is an extinct species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc, in the family Borsoniidae. ^[1] Fossils of the species date to the late Oligocene, and are found in the strata of the Port Phillip Basin of Victoria, Australia.

Description

Reverse view of holotype

In the original description, Powell described the species as follows:

Shell slender, with lightly convex whorls; spire outlines almost straight; no peripheral carina. Spiral cords strong, more or less of equal development, 4 to 5 on early whorls, 6 from penultimate onward. About 25 spirals on body-whorl from suture to anterior end. Axial threads crowd the interspaces and actually cross and cancellate the weaker spirals. ^[2]

The holotype of the species measures 12.5 mm (0.49 in) in length and has a diameter of 4.2 mm (0.17 in). ^[2]

Taxonomy

The species was first described by A. W. B. Powell in 1944. ^[2] The holotype was collected from Torquay, Victoria, Australia, at an unknown date prior to 1937. It was held in the H.J. Finlay Collection, which was sold to the Auckland War Memorial Museum in 1937. ^{[3] [4]}

Distribution

This extinct marine species occurs in late Oligocene strata of the Port Phillip Basin of Victoria, Australia, including the Jan Juc Formation. ^{[3] [5]}

References

1. Maoritomella equispiralis A. W. B. Powell, 1944 † . Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species  on 15 December 2025.
2. Powell, A. W. B. (1944). "The Australian Tertiary Mollusca of the Family Turridae". Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum . 3: 3–68. ISSN   0067-0464. JSTOR   42905993. Wikidata   Q58676624. This article incorporates text from this source, which is under a CC BY 4.0 license.
3. Blom, Wilma M. (2025). "Annotated Catalogue of Fossil and Extant Molluscan Types in the Auckland War Memorial Museum". Bulletin of the Auckland Museum . 22. doi:10.32912/BULLETIN/22. ISSN   1176-3213. OCLC   1550165130. Wikidata   Q135397912.
4. "Maoritomella equispiralis". Collections Online. Auckland War Memorial Museum . Retrieved 15 December 2025.
5. Darragh, Thomas A. (August 2024). "A checklist of Australian marine Cenozoic Mollusca". Memoirs of Museum Victoria . 83: 37–206. doi:10.24199/J.MMV.2024.83.02. ISSN   1447-2546. Wikidata   Q136396722.