Vasum truncatum

Vasum truncatum
Shell of Vasum truncatum (specimen at the Smithsonian Institution)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Neogastropoda
Family:	Turbinellidae
Subfamily:	Vasinae
Genus:	Vasum
Species:	V. truncatum
Binomial name
Vasum truncatum (G. B. Sowerby III, 1892)
Synonyms[1]
Turbinella truncata G. B. Sowerby III, 1892 ·

Vasum truncatum is a species of large predatory sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk within the family Turbinellidae.[1]

Subspecies

• Vasum truncatum triangulare (E. A. Smith, 1902)
• Vasum truncatum truncatum (G. B. Sowerby III, 1892)

Description

The length of the shell attains 71 mm.

(Originally described as Turbinella truncata) The solid, white shell has a subcylindical-turbinate shape. It is truncated and obtusely angulated. The shell contains eight whorls, including two flat, papillate whorls of the protoconch. The anterior portion answering to the rostrum in the typical form as in Turbinella pyrum (Linnaeus, 1767) is quite half as broad as the widest part of the shell, and the anterior part of the elongated, white aperture is so little narrower than the posterior, that it can scarcely be called a siphonal canal. The four small, slightly oblique plaits are situated about (or a little below) the middle of the columella.[2]

Distribution

This marine species occurs off South Africa

References

1. MolluscaBase eds. (2023). MolluscaBase. Vasum truncatum (G. B. Sowerby III, 1892). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=582334 on 2023-01-28
2. Sowerby, G. B. III. (1892). Marine shells of South Africa. A catalogue of all the known species with references to figures in various works, descriptions of new species, and figures of such as are new, little known, or hitherto unfigured, London: G. B. Sowerby. 89 pp., 5 pls

• Marais J.P. & Kilburn R.N. (2010) Turbinellidae. pp. 300–310, in: Marais A.P. & Seccombe A.D. (eds), Identification guide to the seashells of South Africa. Volume 1. Groenkloof: Centre for Molluscan Studies. 376 pp.
• Steyn, D. G.; Lussi, M. (2005). Offshore Shells of Southern Africa: A pictorial guide to more than 750 Gastropods. Published by the authors. pp. i–vi, 1–289.

External links

• Abbott, R. T. (1959). The family Vasidae in the Indo-Pacific. Indo-Pacific Mollusca. 1 (1): 15-32