Tenguella is a genus of small, predatory sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails.
| Tenguella | |
|---|---|
| |
| A shell of the type species, Tenguella granulata. | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Subclass: | Caenogastropoda |
| Order: | Neogastropoda |
| Family: | Muricidae |
| Subfamily: | Ergalataxinae |
| Genus: | Tenguella Arakawa, 1965 |
| Type species | |
| Purpura granulata Duclos, 1832 | |
Description edit
Tenguella species have thick shells bearing regular dark nodules. In T. granulata and T. marginalba, the furrows between the nodules are a contrasting lighter colour. Fully-grown adult shells range from roughly 12 millimetres (0.47 in) for T. chinoi to 25 millimetres (0.98 in) for T. granulata. The nodulated appearance is reminiscent of a compound fruit, this is reflected in the common names such as "mulberry shell" and "granulated drupe".
They live on rocky shores in the intertidal zone or in shallow water, where they prey on other molluscs by drilling through their shells.
Distribution edit
Species are found through the Indian Ocean and West Pacific (IWP), from eastern Africa to Australia, New Zealand, Pacific islands, and Japan. Most are tropical to sub-tropical, though T. marginalba is also found on temperate shores.
Taxonomy edit
Tenguella was defined by Arakawa in 1965. The type species is Purpura granulata Duclos 1832. In 1985, Fujioka synonymised it with Morula.[1]
In 2013, a gene-sequence analysis of 52 egalataxine species showed a clade containing M. granulata, that was related to Muricodrupa but more distant from the main Morula clade. The authors proposed resurrecting Arakawa's name Tenguella for this group.[1]
Species edit
As at 2019, the following species are included in Tenguella:[2]
- Tenguella ceylonica (Dall, 1923)
- Tenguella chinoi Houart, Zuccon & Puillandre, 2019. Named in honour of the malacologist Mitsuo Chino.[3]: 34–36
- Tenguella ericius Houart, Zuccon & Puillandre, 2019. Ericius meaning hedgehog.[3]: 36–38
- Tenguella granulata (Duclos, 1832) – mulberry shell or granulated drupe.
- Tenguella hoffmani Houart, 2017
- Tenguella marginalba (Blainville, 1832) – the mulberry whelk.
- Tenguella musiva (Kiener, 1835) – the mosaic purpura or musical drupe.
References edit
- ^ a b Claremont, Martine; Houart, Roland; Williams, Suzanne T.; Reid, David G. (2013-02-01). "A molecular phylogenetic framework for the Ergalataxinae (Neogastropoda: Muricidae)". Journal of Molluscan Studies. 79 (1): 19–29. doi:10.1093/mollus/eys028. ISSN 0260-1230.
- ^ MolluscaBase (2019). MolluscaBase. Tenguella Arakawa, 1965. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=716635 on 2020-01-18.
- ^ a b Houart, Roland; Zuccon, Dario; Puillandre, Nicolas (2019-04-09). "Description of new genera and new species of Ergalataxinae (Gastropoda: Muricidae)".
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help)
External links edit
- Illustrations of "Purpura tuberculata" and "Purpura marginalba" in Kiener (1835) Coquilles Vivantes.
 | This Ergalataxinae article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |