NMITA: Neogene Marine Biota of Tropical America

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To view shell in 3 orientations.

Photograph: (Jung, 1989, Fig. 120.4) Scale bar is 3.3 mm. Image is of PRI 21047. Banana River, Costa Rica; Río Banano fm. Height: 27.0 mm; width: 10.3 mm.

Synonyms: Columbella ambigua Guppy, 1866, p. 288, pl. 16, fig. 8; Guppy, 1874, p. 439. Columbella [Strombina] ambigua Guppy, Pace, 1902, p. 52. Strombina ambigua Guppy, Gabb, 1873, p.221; Olsson, 1922, p.126, pl. 10, fig. 9. Not Columbella ambigua Kiener, 1841, Species general et iconographie des coquilles vivantes, Columbella, p. 11. Strombina guppyi Woodring, 1928, p. 282, pl. 17, fig. 2. Strombina (Spiralta) guppyi Woodring, Jung, 1986, p. 13, pl. 3, fig. 4-6.

Morphologic Description: Of medium to large size, slender. Spire high. Protoconch not known. Postnuclear whorls up to 8. Profile of spire whorls straight to slightly convex. The axial sculpture consists of straight to slightly raised sigmoid ribs extending from suture to suture. There are 20 to 23 axial ribs per whorl. Cross section of body whorl circular. On the body whorl the axial ribs may be restricted to the upper part. On early spire whorls the axial sculpture may be absent. Base of body whorl with some spiral cords. Outer lip only slightly thickened; its inner surface with a few elongated denticles. Columellar callus well developed, sometimes with a few inconspicuous denticles. Parietal callus thin. Anterior canal moderately long, slightly recurved.

Holotype: USNM 115514. Height: 27.8 mm, width: 10.2 mm. (Bowden, Port Morant area, southeastern Jamaica. Bowden Formation, early Pliocene.)

Distribution: Early Pliocene: Bowden Formation, Jamaica; Río Banano Formation, Costa Rica. Middle or Late Pliocene: Mao Formation, Dominican Republic.

Return to the Species Listing of the subgenus Spiralta.