Liratomina

Liratomina
Temporal range: Oligocene–late Pliocene
Holotype of Liratomina adelaidensis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Order: Neogastropoda
Superfamily: Conoidea
Genus: †Liratomina
Powell, 1942
Type species
† Bela sculptilis

Liratomina is a genus of minute gastropod molluscs belonging to the superfamily Conoidea, currently unassigned to a family. The genus is a fossil taxon, known to occur between the Oligocene and the late Pliocene, in fossil beds in Australia.

Description

In 1944, Powell described the genus as follows:

Moderately large, fusiform-turreted shells with crisp spiral and axial sculpture, the spirals predominant, Protoconch large, smooth and rounded, of 11⁄2 whorls, followed by a half-whorl of closely spaced, fine brephic axials. Post-nuclear whorls are rounded, with a concave shoulder, but no subsutural fold. There is superficial resemblance to both Belophos and Austrotoma, but the protoconchs are quite dissimilar.

Members of the genus range in size between 30 and 35 mm (1.2 and 1.4 in) in height. Liratomina and Belatomina can be differentiated due to differences in teleoconches and the presence of a paucispiral protoconch in Liratomina.

Taxonomy

The genus was first described by A. W. B. Powell in 1942, after Powell identified that Bela sculptilis (now known as Liratomina sculptilis) had unique features separating it from its previously assigned genus. The genus was placed in the order Neogastropoda by Jack Sepkoski in posthumous work published in 2002.

Distribution

Liratomina fossils have been found in the Eucla Basin, Otway Basin, and St Vincent Basin of Australia, and date to between the Oligocene and the late Pliocene.

Species

Species within the genus Liratomina include:

References

  1. 1 2 Liratomina A. W. B. Powell, 1944. Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 11 December 2025.
  2. ↑ Powell, Arthur William Baden (1944). "The Australian Tertiary Mollusca of the Family Turridae". Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum. 3: 3–68. JSTOR 42905993. Wikidata Q58676624.
  3. ↑ Powell, Arthur William Baden (1969). "The family Turridae in the Indo-Pacific. Part 2. The subfamily Turriculinae". Indo-Pacific mollusca. 2 (10): 215–416. ISSN 0073-7240. Wikidata Q136806872.
  4. ↑ Long, D. C. (1981). "Late Eocene and Early Oligocene Turridae (Gastropoda: Prosobranchiata) of the Brown's Creek and Glen Aire Clays, Victoria, Australia" (PDF). Memoirs of the National Museum of Victoria. 42 (1): 15–55. doi:10.24199/j.mmv.1981.42.03. Wikidata Q56195002.
  5. ↑ Powell, Arthur William Baden (1942). "The New Zealand recent and fossil Mollusca of the family Turridae, with general notes on Turrid nomenclature and systematics". Bulletin of the Auckland Institute and Museum. 2: 72. ISSN 0067-0456. OCLC 1826451. Wikidata Q115110377.
  6. ↑ Sepkoski, J. John Jr. (2002). "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera". Bulletins of American Paleontology. 363. Ithaca, NY: Paleontological Research Institution: 103. ISBN 978-0-87710-450-6.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: periodical has ISBN (link)
  7. ↑ Blom, Wilma Maija (2025). "Annotated Catalogue of Fossil and Extant Molluscan Types in the Auckland War Memorial Museum". Bulletin of the Auckland Museum. 22. doi:10.32912/bulletin/22. OCLC 1550165130. Wikidata Q135397912.
  8. ↑ Darragh, Thomas Alwynne (2024). "A checklist of Australian marine Cenozoic Mollusca". Memoirs of Museum Victoria. 83: 37–206. doi:10.24199/j.mmv.2024.83.02. Wikidata Q136396722.
  9. ↑ "†Liratomina (snail)". Paleobiology Database. Retrieved 11 December 2025.