>I received recently some Genopa spp from West
>Africa and while looking for the ID in
>literature I noticed that some authors place it
>in Turridae and others in Conidae; it's also
>curious that I couldn´t find any trace of
>operculum in the soft parts otherwise Turridae
>that always bears one. Any specialist opinions
>about this?

Turridae has been broken up, and the subfamilies
raised to familial rank or transferred to Conidae.

Rosenberg has stated that there is good reason
NOT to break the Turridae up, and those who
subscribe to this view place all turrids in
Conidae. I follow Rosenberg (who may have since
changed his mind, who knows?).

Genota was placed in Turridae: Conorbinae. I am
not entirely sure, but believe this is now a
subfamily of Conidae.

Note that if you choose to follow those who break
Turridae up, only those species which are still
included in Turridae are "turrids". Under this
scheme Thatcheria then is not a turrid; nor are
Bathytoma, Drillia, Lienardia, Mangelia etc...

Watch using presence or type of operculum in
familial diagnosis. Some SPECIES may have or lack
operculum... eg Volutomitra banksi.

On another note, Ficidae has recently been
transferred to its own superfamily and
Thalassocyon moved to new family
Thalassocyonidae, I think by Reidel. I don't know
whether Thalassocyonidae is in Ficoidea or not.
--
Andrew Grebneff
Dunedin, New Zealand
64 (3) 473-8863
<[log in to unmask]>
Fossil preparator
Seashell, Macintosh & VW/Toyota van nut
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I want your sinistral gastropods!
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Opinions in this e-mail are my own, not those of my institution
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