Optoturris edita

Optoturris edita Temporal range: Middle Miocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Holotype of Optoturris edita
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Neogastropoda
Genus:	† Optoturris
Species:	†O. edita
Binomial name
†Optoturris edita Powell, 1944
Synonyms
Optoturris editusPowell, 1944

Optoturris edita is an extinct species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the superfamily Conoidea, currently unassigned to a family. ^[1] It is known to occur in the middle Miocene in fossil beds of Victoria, Australia.

Description

Reverse view of holotype

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

Related to optatus , but much narrower, with taller spire, longer canal, and weaker, more dense spiral threads. The periphery is sub-angulate and below the middle on the early whorls, but both the penultimate and the body-whorl are regularly convex except for a very weak subsutural concavity. On the spire-whorls there are 3-4 slightly stronger spirals submargining the suture and 4 more forming a peripheral zone. There are dense microscopic threads on the shoulder between the subsutural and peripheral spirals, and from 5-14 weak spirals between the peripheral zone and the lower suture. Fine, dense, evenly developed spiral threads cover the base and anterior end. The sinus is broad, but only moderately deep, as described above, Axials are in the form of comma-shaped crenulations on the periphery of the early whorls, about 13 per whorl. The narrowness is accentuated in the holotype by abnormal loose coiling of the body-whorl. ^[2]

The holotype measures 22 mm (0.87 in) in height, with a diameter of 6.5 mm (0.26 in). ^[2]

Taxonomy

Both the genus and species were first described by A. W. B. Powell in 1944 in the same paper. ^[2] The holotype of the species is held by the Auckland War Memorial Museum. ^{[3] [4]} While part of the superfamily Conoidea, the genus was excluded from the family Turridae by Yu I Kantor et al. in 2024. ^[5]

Distribution

The species is known to have lived in the Middle Miocene, found in the Gellibrand Formation of the Port Phillip Basin, at Grice's Creek/Gunyoung Creek, Victoria, Australia. ^{[3] [6]}

References

1. Optoturris edita A. W. B. Powell, 1944 † . Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species  on 3 November 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.
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. "Optoturris editus". Collections Online. Auckland War Memorial Museum . Retrieved 3 November 2025.
5. Kantor, Yu I; Bouchet, Philippe; Fedosov, Alexander; Puillandre, Nicolas; Zaharias, Paul (December 2024). "Generic revision of the Recent Turridae (Neogastropoda: Conoidea)". Journal of Molluscan Studies. 90 (5): 1–40. doi:10.1093/mollus/eyae032.
6. 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.