Belongs within: Pseudomelatomidae.
The type subgenus of the genus Crassispira includes mostly dark-coloured conoids that typically exhibit a strong subsutural fold (Powell 1966).
Crassispira woodringi
Published 22 January 2023
Crassispira is one of those conoid genera that has tended to draw species into it, impelled by the force of its taxonomic gravity. As noted by Powell (1966), various authors have tended to award it any conoid species exhibiting a strong subsutural fold. Among modern species, the recognition of the true Crassispira’s distinctive radula, consisting of a single pair of marginal teeth, has allowed the genus to be restricted to a more natural cluster centred around the tropical western coast of the Americas. Fossil taxa, however, cannot be assessed in this way.
One fossil species that remains in Crassispira’s orbit is C. woodringi. This species was described by Olsson (1930) from the Eocene-age Talara Formation of northern Peru. Specimens were around three centimetres long, with a bit less than half that length taken up by the aperture, and a bit less than a centimetre wide. Whorls were slightly convex and feebly shouldered. The anal fasciole (the section of whorl above the shoulder marked by growth lines from the anal canal) was broad and sloping but weakly constricted. The anal sinus was deep and narrow, and placed just above the shoulder, some distance below the suture. Growth lines were strong but the remaining sculpture was weak, with axial sculpture represented by eight low knob-like ribs on the last turn of the shoulder, and spiral sculpture of weak but numerous threads. The siphonal canal was moderately long, stout and strongly twisted, sometimes developing a distinct fold at the tip.
As far as I could find, Crassispira woodringi does not appear to have been examined in any detail since Olsson’s original description. Though its Peruvian location does put it within the heartland of modern Crassispira (a statement that admittedly may or may not mean anything by the time we get back to the Eocene), it differs from other members of the genus in interesting ways. The shell is more slender than the average Crassispira, and the siphonal canal is distinctly longer. The anal fasciole appears more strongly constricted in modern Crassispira which thus tend to have a more distinct ‘waist’ below each suture. Whether these distinctions add up to enough to render C. woodringi’s status as a Crassispira into question, I am of course not in the least bit qualified to say. That would have to wait for a more informed analysis.
Systematics of Crassispira (Crassispira)
Characters (Powell 1966): Shell of moderate to large size, 12–50 mm, mostly dark brown or black, elongate-fusiform, with more or less truncated anterior end. Sculptured with broad flat subsutural fold, usually smooth, sometimes nodulose, bounded below by sharp raised edge. Concave sinus area usually smooth except for sinus growth stages. Protoconch paucispiral, smooth at first, then developing axial riblets. Adult sculpture of stout axials, commencing at shoulder and usually extending well over base, overridden to some extent by spiral cords. Axials sometimes nodulose over peripheral area. Sinus moderately deep, U-shaped, occupying shoulder concavity between subsutural margin and shoulder angle. Outer lip not variced but with very shallow stromboid notch. Operculum ovate, with terminal nucleus. Radula a pair of marginals only, elongated, rather narrow and more or less parallel sided, abruptly tapered to sharp point; narrow, much smaller accessory plate superimposed on lower part of main tooth.
<==Crassispira Swainson 1840 (Crassispira)P66
|--C. (C.) incrassata (Sowerby 1834)BC01 (see below for synonymy)
|--C. (C.) abundans (Conrad 1847) [=Pleurotoma abundans]P66
|--C. (C.) aclinica (Tucker & Wilson 1933) [=Cymatosyrinx aclinica]P66
|--C. (C.) acurugata (Dall 1890) [=Drillia acurugata]P66
|--C. (C.) adamsiana Pilsbry & Lowe 1932P66
|--C. (C.) aegis Woodring 1928P66
|--C. (C.) aesopus (Schepman 1913) [=Drillia aesopus]P66
|--C. (C.) albinodata (Reeve 1846) [=Pleurotoma albinodata]P66
|--C. (C.) albonodosa (Carpenter 1856) [=Drillia albonodosa]P66
|--C. (C.) albovallosa (Carpenter 1856) [=Drillia albovallosa]P66
|--C. (C.) amathea Dall 1919P66
|--C. (C.) annella Woodring 1928P66
|--C. (C.) antealesidota Mansfield 1930P66
|--C. (C.) appressa (Carpenter 1864) [=Drillia appressa]P66
|--C. (C.) arsinoe Dall 1919P66
|--C. (C.) aterrima (Sowerby 1834)P66 [=Pleurotoma aterrimaP66, Drillia aterrimaC64]
|--C. (C.) atramentosa (Smith 1882) [=Pleurotoma (C.) atramentosa]P66
|--C. (C.) atrior (Adams 1852) [=Pleurotoma atrior]P66
|--C. (C.) ‘aurantia’ (Olsson 1922) [=Drillia aurantia non D. torosa aurantia Carpenter 1864]P66
|--C. (C.) aureonodosa Pilsbry & Lowe 1932P66
|--C. (C.) bacchia Dall 1919P66
|--C. (C.) bicanalifera (Sowerby 1834) [=Pleurotoma bicanalifera]P66
|--C. (C.) blountensis Mansfield 1935P66
|--C. (C.) boadicea (Dall 1900) [=Pleurotoma boadicea]P66
|--C. (C.) boesei (Engerrand & Urbina 1910) [=Drillia (C.) boesei]P66
|--C. (C.) bridgesi Dall 1919P66
|--C. (C.) brujae Hertlein & Strong 1951P66
|--C. (C.) calligona (Maury 1910) [=Drillia calligona]P66
|--C. (C.) calligonoides Gardner 1937P66
|--C. (C.) callistura (Pilsbry & Johnson 1917) [=Drillia callistura]P66
|--C. (C.) candace Dall 1919P66
|--C. (C.) capella Olsson 1930P66
|--C. (C.) caroniana (Maury 1925) [=Drillia henekeni caroniana]P66
|--C. (C.) cerithoidea (Carpenter 1856) [=Drillia cerithoidea]P66
|--C. (C.) chacei Hertlein & Strong 1951P66
|--C. (C.) collaris (Sowerby 1834) [=Pleurotoma collaris]P66
|--C. (C.) cornuta (Sowerby 1834) [=Pleurotoma cornuta]P66
|--C. (C.) dirce Dall 1919P66
|--C. (C.) discors (Sowerby 1834) [=Pleurotoma discors]P66
|--C. (C.) drangai Schwengel 1951P66
|--C. (C.) epicasta Dall 1919P66
|--C. (C.) erebus Pilsbry & Lowe 1932P66
|--C. (C.) erigone Dall 1919P66
|--C. (C.) eurynome Dall 1919P66
|--C. (C.) excentrica (Sowerby 1834) [=Pleurotoma excentrica]P66
|--C. (C.) flavocarinata (Smith 1882) [=Pleurotoma (C.) flavocarinata]P66
|--C. (C.) flavonodosa Pilsbry & Lowe 1932P66
|--C. (C.) fonseca Pilsbry & Lowe 1932P66
|--C. (C.) grandimaculata (Adams 1852) [=Pleurotoma grandimaculata]P66
|--C. (C.) guayana Pilsbry & Olsson 1941P66
|--C. (C.) hanleyi (Carpenter 1856) [=Drillia hanleyi]P66
|--C. (C.) henikeri (Sowerby 1850) [=Pleurotoma henikeri]P66
|--C. (C.) hermanita Pilsbry & Lowe 1932P66
|--C. (C.) jamaicensis (Guppy 1866) [=Pleurotoma jamaicensis]P66
|--C. (C.) kempi (Maury 1910) [=Pleurotoma kempi]P66
|--C. (C.) kluthi Jordan 1936P66 [=C. (Striospira) kluthiPP78]
|--C. (C.) laurentii Gardner 1947P66
|--C. (C.) lomata Woodring 1928P66
|--C. (C.) losquemadica (Maury 1917) [=Drillia losquemadica]P66
|--C. (C.) loxa Gardner 1947P66
|--C. (C.) loxospira Pilsbry & Lowe 1932P66
|--C. (C.) martinensis Dall 1919P66
|--C. (C.) maura (Sowerby 1834)PP78
|--C. (C.) melchersi (Menke 1851)P66 [=Pleurotoma melchersiP66, Drillia melchersiC64]
|--C. (C.) meunierei (Maury 1910) [=Drillia meunierei]P66
|--C. (C.) montereyensis (Stearns 1871) [=Pleurotoma (Drillia) montereyensis]P66
|--C. (C.) nautica Pilsbry & Lowe 1932P66
|--C. (C.) nigerrima (Sowerby 1834) [=Pleurotoma nigerrima]P66
|--C. (C.) nymphia Pilsbry & Lowe 1932P66
|--C. (C.) ochrobrunnea (Melvill 1923) [=Drillia (C.) ochrobrunnea]M23
|--C. (C.) paraconsors Gardner 1937P66
|--C. (C.) phasma Schwengel 1940P66
|--C. (C.) piscator (Dall 1890) [=Drillia piscator]P66
|--C. (C.) pluto Pilsbry & Lowe 1932P66
|--C. (C.) ponida Woodring 1928P66
|--C. (C.) rudis (Sowerby 1834) [=Pleurotoma rudis]P66
|--C. (C.) rustica (Sowerby 1834)P66 [=Pleurotoma rusticaP66, C. (Crassispirella) rusticaPP78]
|--C. (C.) sinensis (Hinds 1843)P66 [=Clavatula sinensisP66, Drillia sinensisH09]
|--C. (C.) solitaria Pilsbry & Lowe 1932P66
|--C. (C.) starri Hertlein & Jordan 1927P66
|--C. (C.) tangolaensis Hertlein & Strong 1951P66
|--C. (C.) tasconium (Melvill & Standen 1901) [=Drillia tasconium]P66
|--C. (C.) tepocana Dall 1919P66 [=C. (Striospira) tepocanaPP78]
|--C. (C.) tomliniana Melvill 1927P66
|--C. (C.) toulai (Cossmann 1913) [=Drillia (C.) toulai]P66
|--C. (C.) trimariana Pilsbry & Lowe 1932P66
|--C. (C.) turricula (Sowerby 1834) [=Pleurotoma turricula]P66
|--C. (C.) woodringi Olsson 1930P66
|--C. (C.) xanti Hertlein & Strong 1951P66 [=C. (Striospira) xantiPP78]
`--C. (C.) zizyphus (Berry 1940) [=Clavus (C.) zizyphus]P66
Crassispira (Crassispira) incrassata (Sowerby 1834)BC01 [=Pleurotoma incrassataP66; incl. P. bottae Kiener 1840KD08, *Crassispira bottaeKD08, Drillia inaequistrata Li 1930BC01, Clathrodrillia inaequistriataP66, Cl. interstriata (l. c.)BC01, Drillia inequistriataBC01, Crassispira perla Smith 1947P66]
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
[BC01] Boyko, C. B., & J. R. Cordeiro. 2001. Catalog of Recent type specimens in the Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History. V. Mollusca, part 2 (class Gastropoda [exclusive of Opisthobranchia and Pulmonata], with supplements to Gastropoda [Opisthobranchia], and Bivalvia). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 262: 1–170.
[C64] Carpenter, P. P. 1864. Supplementary report on the present state of our knowledge with regard to the Mollusca of the west coast of North America. Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science 33: 517–686.
[H09] Hedley, C. 1909. The Marine Fauna of Queensland: Address by the President of Section D. Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science: Brisbane.
[KD08] Kilburn, R. N., & H. Dekker. 2008. New species of turrid conoideans (Gastropoda: Conoidea) from the Red Sea and Arabia. Basteria 72 (1–3): 1–19.
[M23] Melvill, J. C. 1923. Descriptions of twenty-one species of Turridae (Pleurotomidae) from various localities in the collection of Mr. E. R. Sykes. Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London 15 (4): 162–171.
Olsson, A. A. 1930. Contributions to the Tertiary paleontology of northern Peru: part 3, Eocene Mollusca. Bulletins of American Paleontology 17: 1–96, pls 1–12.
[PP78] Poorman, F. L., & L. H. Poorman. 1978. Additional molluscan records from Bahía de Los Angeles, Baja California Norte. Veliger 20 (4): 369–374.
[P66] Powell, A. W. B. 1966. The molluscan families Speightiidae and Turridae: an evaluation of the valid taxa, both Recent and fossil, with lists of characteristic species. Bulletin of the Auckland Institute and Museum 5: 1–184, pls 1–23.