Veruturris quadricarinata

Veruturris quadricarinata
Holotype of Veruturris quadricarinata from Auckland War Memorial Museum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Neogastropoda
Family:	incertae sedis
Genus:	† Veruturris
Species:	†V. quadricarinata
Binomial name
†Veruturris quadricarinata (Powell, 1944)
Synonyms [1]
† Xenuroturris (Veruturris) quadricarinatusPowell, 1944 † Xenuroturris quadricarinatusPowell, 1944 † Veruturris quadricarinatusPowell, 1944

Veruturris quadricarinata is an extinct species of marine gastropod mollusc in the superfamily Conoidea, currently unassigned to a family. ^[1] Fossils of the species date to the middle Miocene, and are found in the Port Phillip Basin, and the Muddy Creek Formation of Victoria, Australia.

Description

View of reverse side of holotype

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

Shell small, resembling X. tatei except for the longer canal, and four spiral cords on the spire whorls instead of five. Protoconch blunt-tipped of 2½ smooth globose whorls plus a half whorl of brephic axials. Spire-whorls with four evenly spaced strong rounded cords, middle pair stronger than other two, which are at the sutures. There are 1-4 fine spiral threads in the interspaces. A fifth cord emerges from just beneath the top of the aperture, Below this there are about 18 much weaker cords on the base and anterior end. The anterior canal is slightly more than half the height of the complete aperture. Sinus broadly "V" shaped at its apex on the upper of the two median cords. ^[2]

The holotype of the species measures 14.5 mm (0.57 in) in height and 4.2 mm (0.17 in) in diameter. ^[2]

Taxonomy

The species was first described by A.W.B. Powell in 1944 under the name Xenuroturris (Veruturris) quadricarinatus. ^[2] When Veruturris was raised to genus level by Powell in 1964, the species began being referred to as Veruturris quadricarinatus or its currently accepted name, Veruturris quadricarinata. ^{[3] [1]} The holotype was collected from the Altona Shaft in Altona, Victoria on an unknown date prior to 1944, and is held by the Auckland War Memorial Museum. ^{[4] [5]}

Distribution

This extinct marine species occurs in middle Miocene (Bairnsdalian) strata of the Gellibrand Formation of the Port Phillip Basin, and the Muddy Creek Formation of Clifton Bank, Hamilton, Victoria. ^{[4] [6]}

References

1. "Veruturris tomopleuroides (A. W. B. Powell, 1944) †". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species . Retrieved 10 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. Powell, A. W. B. (31 March 1964). "The family Turridae in the Indo-Pacific. Part 1. The subfamily Turrinae". Indo-Pacific Mollusca. 1 (5): 317–320 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
4. 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. Wikidata   Q135397912.
5. "Veruturris quadricarinata". Collections Online. Auckland War Memorial Museum . Retrieved 10 November 2025.
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.