biology

Turritella

Turritella is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Turritella rather than just read about it. In short: Turritella is a genus of medium-sized sea snails with an operculum, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Turritellidae. They have tightly coiled shells, whose overall shape is basically that of an elongated cone.

Key takeaways

Turritella belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Turritella to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Turritella from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Turritella is a genus of medium-sized sea snails with an operculum, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Turritellidae. They have tightly coiled shells, whose overall shape is basically that of an elongated cone. The name Turritella comes from the Latin word turritus 'turreted, towered' and the diminutive suffix -ella.

Species

Valid Valid species within the genus Turritella are listed below. Fossil species are marked with a dagger "†".

Invalid

These are species assigned to Turritella that were brought into synonymy with other taxa:

Turritella (Torcula) Gray, 1847: synonym of Turritella Lamarck, 1799 Turritella (Torcula) cochlea Reeve, 1849: synonym of Turritella cochlea Reeve, 1849 Turritella acicula Stimpson, 1851: synonym of Turritellopsis stimpsoni (Dall, 1919) Turritella alternata Say, 1822: synonym of Bittiolum alternatum (Say, 1822) † Turritella andenensis Otuka, 1934: synonym of Neohaustator andenensis (Otuka, 1934) Turritella aquila Reeve, 1849: synonym of Turritella conspersa Adams & Reeve, 1850 Turritella areolata Stimpson, 1851: synonym of Tachyrhynchus reticulatus (Mighels & Adams, 1842) Turritella auricincta Martens, 1875: synonym of Turritella aurocincta Martens, 1875 Turritella bicolor Adams & Reeve, 1850: synonym of Turritella cingulifera G.B. Sowerby I, 1825 Turritella brevialis Lamarck, 1822: synonym of Mesalia brevialis (Lamarck, 1822) Turritella canaliculata Adams & Reeve, 1850: synonym of Turritella cingulifera G.B. Sowerby I, 1825 Turritella candida Reeve, 1849: synonym of Turritella gemmata Reeve, 1849 Turritella cingulata Sowerby, 1825 is a synonym of Incatella cingulata (Sowerby, 1825) Turritella concava Say, 1826: synonym of Terebra concava (Say, 1826) Turritella costulata Mighels & Adams, 1842: synonym of Acirsa borealis (Lyell, 1841) Turritella costulata Møller, 1842: synonym of Eumetula arctica (Mørch, 1857) Turritella crenulata (Donald, 1900): synonym of Colpospira joannae (Hedley, 1923) Turritella erosa Couthouy, 1838: synonym of Tachyrhynchus erosus (Couthouy, 1838) Turritella eschrichti Hölböll in Möller, 1842: synonym of Acirsa borealis (Lyell, 1841) Turritella excavata G. B. Sowerby III, 1870: synonym of Turritella declivis Adams & Reeve in Reeve, 1849 Turritella flammulata Kiener, 1843-44: synonym ofTurritella ligar Deshayes, 1843 Turritella fortilirata G. B. Sowerby III, 1914: synonym of Neohaustator fortilirata (G. B. Sowerby III, 1914) Turritella gracillima Gould, 1860: synonym of Turritella cingulifera G. B. Sowerby I, 1825 Turritella granosa Quoy & Gaimard, 1834: synonym of Opalia granosa (Quoy & Gaimard, 1834) Turritella imbricata (Linnaeus, 1758): synonym of Turritella variegata (Linnaeus, 1758) Turritella knysnaensis Krauss, 1848: synonym of Turritella capensis (Krauss, 1848) Turritella lactea Möller, 1842: synonym of Mesalia lactea (Möller, 1842) † Turritella maiquetiana Weisbord, 1962: synonym of Turritella paraguanensis Hodson, 1926 Turritella mediolevis Verco, 1910: synonym of Colpospira mediolevis (Verco, 1910) Turritella meta Reeve, 1849: synonym of Turritella gemmata Turritella monterosatoi Kobelt, 1887: synonym of Turritella turbona Monterosato, 1877 Turritella nzimaorum Ryall & Vos, 2010: synonym of Turritella caelata Mörch in Dunker, 1858 Turritella opalina Adams & Reeve, 1850: synonym of Mesalia opalina (Adams & Reeve, 1850) Turritella opulenta Hedley, 1907: synonym of Glyptozaria opulenta (Hedley, 1907) Turritella paraguanensis Hodson, 1926: synonym of Turritella variegata (Linnaeus, 1758) Turritella philippi Aradas, 1842: synonym of Acirsa subdecussata (Cantraine, 1835) Turritella polaris Möller, 1842: synonym of Tachyrhynchus erosus (Couthouy, 1838) Turritella spina Crosse & Fischer, 1864: synonym of Cingulina spina (Crosse & Fischer, 1864) Turritella reticulata Mighels & Adams, 1842: synonym of Tachyrhynchus reticulatus (Mighels & Adams, 1842) Turritella spirata Sowerby I, 1825: synonym of Eglisia spirata (Sowerby I, 1825) Turritella symmetrica Hutton, 1873: synonym of Stiracolpus symmetricus (Hutton, 1873) Turritella trisulcata Lamarck, 1822: synonym of Turritella vermicularis Turritella yucatecanum Dall, 1881: synonym of Turritella yucatecana (Dall, 1881)

Fossil species

The genus is known from the Cretaceous to the Recent periods. The shells are quite frequently found as fossils, and the carbonate stone made from large quantities of Turritella shells is often referred to as "Turritella limestone", or, if silicified, "Turritella agate". Both varieties of this stone are commonly sold as polished cabochons.

"Turritella agate"

One variety of "Turritella agate", that from the Green River Formation in Wyoming, is a fossiliferous rock which does indeed contain numerous high-spired snail shells. However, contrary to the common name, these snails are not in the marine genus Turritella, instead they are freshwater snails in the species Elimia tenera, family Pleuroceridae from the Eocene epoch. The rock in which these snail shells are so abundant varies from a soft sandstone to a dense chalcedony. This dense silicified rock is popular with gem and mineral hobbyists, as well as with New Age practitioners.

Turritellenplatte The Erminger Turritellenplatte ("Turritella plate of Ermingen") near Ulm, Germany is a rocky outcrop situated in the northern part of the North Alpine Foreland Basin. It is famous for its superabundance of Turritella turris shells within its sediments and dates from the Burdigalian.

References Caenogastropoda in Man and Mollusc

External links

"1. Turritella bicolor; 2. Turritella congelata; 3. Turritella conspersa; 4. Turritella miltilirata; 5. Turritella vittulata; 6. Turritella monilifera; 7. Turritella opalina; 8. Eglisia tricarinata; 9. Turritella fastigiata; 10. Turritela declivis; 11. Turritella canaliculata", New York Public Library no-charge digital image available; image dated 1850.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Turritella

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Turritella claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Turritella before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Turritella ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Turritella

In research: Turritella appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Turritella in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Turritella is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Cenozoic molluscs, Cretaceous molluscs, Extant Late Jurassic first appearances, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Turritella outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Turritella in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Turritella means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Turritella out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Turritella in simple terms?

Why does Turritella matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Turritella?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Turritella.