Gemmula speciosa, common name the splendid turrid, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Turridae, the turrids.[1]

Gemmula speciosa
Shell of Gemmula speciosa (specimen at MNHN, Paris)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Order: Neogastropoda
Superfamily: Conoidea
Family: Turridae
Genus: Gemmula
Species:
G. speciosa
Binomial name
Gemmula speciosa
(Reeve, 1842)
Synonyms[1]
  • Pleurotoma speciosa Reeve, 1842
  • Pleurotoma (Gemmula) speciosa Reeve, 1842
  • Turris (Gemmula) granosa var. guadurensis Melvill 1917

Description

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The length of the shell varies between 40 mm and 80 mm.

The shell is crenulately carinate or ribbed. The principal keel, forming the angle of the whorls, is broad and corded, with a sloping shoulder above it and studded with raised granules. The shell is yellowish white, the ribs ochraceous. The peripheral keel and the primary spiral cords show light-brown continuous lines. [2]

Distribution

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This marine species occurs in the Indo-West Pacific; in the South China Sea, Nansha Islands; Arabian Sea, Japan, the Philippines; off Papua New Guinea.

References

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  • Powell, A.W.B. (1964) The family Turridae in the Indo-Pacific. Part 1. The subfamily Turrinae. Indo-Pacific Mollusca, 1, 227–346.
  • Liu, J.Y. [Ruiyu] (ed.). (2008). Checklist of marine biota of China seas. China Science Press. 1267 pp.
  • Li B. [Baoquan] & Li X. [Xinzheng]. (2008). Report on the turrid genera Gemmula, Lophiotoma and Ptychosyrinx (Gastropoda: Turridae: Turrinae) from the China seas. Zootaxa. 1778: 1-25.
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