Optoturris optata

Optoturris optata Temporal range: Late Oligocene - Late Miocene
Shell of Optoturris optatus (holotype)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Neogastropoda
Superfamily:	Conoidea
Genus:	† Optoturris
Species:	†O. optata
Binomial name
†Optoturris optata (G.F. Harris, 1897)
Synonyms
Optoturris optatus(G.F. Harris, 1897) Pleurotoma optataG.F. Harris, 1897

Optoturris optata is an extinct species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the superfamily Conoidea, currently unassigned to a family. ^[1]

Description

The length of the shell attains 16.5 mm; the maximum diameter is 6 mm; length of the aperture: 9.5 mm.

(Original description) The shell has a fusiform shape. The aperture (with siphonal canal) measures more than ½ the length of the whole shell. The shell contains seven whorls, slightly convex, keeled above and below the suture, which is near the centre of the whorls, the anterior keel being the most prominent. The other ornament consists of several closely-set small spiral lineations, crossed by rather conspicuous growth lines, and accompanied by a peculiar damascened structure. The protoconch is composed of two smooth whorls, the anterior being subangulate and vertically striated It terminates abruptly against the shell of the brephic stage, which is longitudinally, obliquely costated and marginate. The aperture is elongately pyriform, much constricted anteriorly. The outer lip is thin and undulating. The sinus is broad and shallow. The columella is covered by a thin deposit of vertically striated callus and is twisted anteriorly. The siphonal canal is long, curved and broad in front. ^[2]

Distribution

Fossils of this marine species were found in Miocene strata in Victoria, Australia.

References

1. 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.
2. Harris G.F. (1897) Catalogue of Tertiary Molluscs in the British Museum of Natural History

External links

• Thomson, Kirstie. Evolutionary patterns and consequences of developmental mode in Cenozoic gastropods from southeastern Australia. Diss. University of Liverpool, 2013.