Turrancilla Martens, 1904

Kantor, Yuri, Strano, Giorgio, Vervaet, Fred, Weddingen, Mélanie & Puillandre, Nicolas, 2025, Revision of the genus Turrancilla (Neogastropoda: Olivoidea: Ancillariidae) in an integrative taxonomy framework, Zootaxa 5647 (5), pp. 401-434 : 406

Genus Turrancilla Martens, 1904

Type species: Ancillaria lanceolata Martens, 1901

[a primary homonym of Ancillaria lanceolata Tate, 1889 ] SD, Wenz (1943); accepted as Turrancilla akontistes ( Kilburn, 1980) .

Description. Shell small to large for the family, 12–50 mm in length, elongate oval. Protoconch dome shaped, later part covered with callus, rendering whorl count usually impossible. Spire high, conical; primary callus medium thick ( Fig. 1C — pc) and covering all whorls except initial part of protoconch, slightly impressed at sutures, glossy, microshagreened; secondary callus ( Fig. 1 C–E — sc) from thin to thick, extending to right-ventral side of last whorl and continuing up as tongue-shaped pad, reaching suture of antepenultimate whorl. It is overlaying primary callus except ventral side of last whorl. Body whorl cloak glossy, covered by very weak and indistinct spiral striation. Olivoid groove very shallow and indistinct, terminating in very short rounded-triangular extension on outer lip to obsolete. Rear edge of anterior band from very indistinct to sharp. Anterior band usually strongly different from shell cloak in colour, rarely similar to body whorl cloak, sometimes distinctly separated into upper and lower bands. Columella smooth or with weak spiral cords. Aperture narrow oval, acute posteriorly. Shell differently coloured, from milky-white to different shades of orange and brown, often with bluish tint.

Operculum either small subtriangular, or large, narrow lanceolate. Nucleus terminal.

Foregut anatomy. Proboscis not long, cylindrical or conical. Salivary glands seemingly fused, compact, formed by ramified tubes, embracing the nerve ring. Gland of Leiblein large, broadly tubular and folded anteriorly, anteriormost part creamy, corresponding to dorsal glandular folds of oesophagus, main part brownish. Accessory salivary gland present, single, situated on right side of rhynchodaeum, massive, tubular. Gland narrowing at half-length, attached to rhynchodaeum and following backward along the oesophagus. Valve of Leiblein distinct [examined in T. alcocki and T. monachalis ]. Radula short, spanning less than half of proboscis length.

Radula ( Fig. 4 ) of about 35–90 rows of teeth, normally 55–75. Rachidians with very deep notch on the anterior side and long tongue-shaped projection of the base of posterior edge, corresponding in shape and engaging the notch of the neighbouring tooth, with 3 long and narrow cusps, central one being the largest. Lateral teeth unicuspid, subtriangular.

Remarks. Although the shell shape is rather distinctive in Turrancilla , it bears clear resemblance to Amalda , particularly T. reboriae . Turrancilla can be distinguished from Amalda in having a generally much weaker (or absent) olivoid groove; correspondingly, the olivoid band is not or much less differentiated from the body whorl cloak. The genera can be readily distinguished by very different operculums: in Amalda it is elongate-oval with subcentral nucleus, while in Turrancilla the operculum strongly narrows in the lower part and the nucleus is terminal. The radula of Amalda is also very different from Turrancilla in having a nearly straight anterior edge of the rachidian teeth ( Fig. 4E , after Kantor et al. 2020: fig. 7) and lacking projection of the posterior edge. On the contrary, similar radular morphology with deeply notched rachidian tooth is found in the conchologically very different genus Entomoliva Bouchet & Kilburn, 1991 ( Fig. 4F )

Figures

FIGURE 1. The major morphological characters of the shells of Turrancilla. A–B. Turrancilla reboriae, MNHN IM-2007-31954, SL 12.3 mm, the olivoid groove (depicted by dashed line) is present in this species, but absent in many others. C–E. Turrancilla glans, MNHN-IM-2007-33316, SL 42.4 mm. Primary callus is highlighted with blue, secondary callus on the last whorl is highlighted in light green. ①, olivoid groove; ②, rear edge of anterior band; ③, fasciolar ridge; ④, rear edge of plication plate; CL, last whorl cloak; lab, lower anterior band; ob, olivoid band; pc, primary callus; PP, plication plate; sc, secondary callus; uab, upper anterior band.

FIGURE 4. Radulae of Turrancilla and other Ancillariidae. A–B. Turrancilla akontistes, MNHN-IM-2019-22749 (shell on Fig. 3L). C–D. Turrancilla reboriae (Poppe, Tagaro & Goto, 2018), MNHN-IM-2007-31947 (shell on Fig. 6F). E. Amalda aureomarginata Kilburn & Bouchet, 1988, MNHN-IM-2013-63421, southern New Caledonia. F. Entomoliva mirabilis Bouchet &Kilburn, 1991, New Caledonia: Canal de la Havannah, EXBODI, st. DW3787, 22°13′S, 167°06′E, 223–249 m, SL 11.2 mm.