''Tritia gibbosula'', common name the swollen nassa, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

sea snail Sea snail is a common name for slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguished from snails primarily by the ...

, a marine

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Nassariidae The Nassariidae, Nassa mud snails (USA), or dog whelks (UK), are a taxonomic family of small to medium-sized sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the clade Neogastropoda. "Dog whelk" also refers to ''Nucella lapillus''. Shell description T ...

, the Nassa mud snails or dog whelks.MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Tritia gibbosula (Linnaeus, 1758). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=991267 on 2021-09-06

Description

The length of the shell varies between 15 mm and 20 mm. The thick shell is smooth, ovate, somewhat gibbous upon the back of the

body whorl The body whorl is part of the morphology of the shell in those gastropod mollusks that possess a coiled shell. The term is also sometimes used in a similar way to describe the shell of a cephalopod mollusk. In gastropods In gastropods, the b ...

, flattened and widened upon the sides. The

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...

is short and acute. It is formed of five or six

whorl A whorl ( or ) is an individual circle, oval, volution or equivalent in a whorled pattern, which consists of a spiral or multiple concentric objects (including circles, ovals and arcs). Whorls in nature File:Photograph and axial plane floral ...

s. The

aperture In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. An opt ...

is ovate, smooth and white. The interior of the cavity is brown. The outer

lip The lips are the visible body part at the mouth of many animals, including humans. Lips are soft, movable, and serve as the opening for food intake and in the articulation of sound and speech. Human lips are a tactile sensory organ, and can be ...

is margined without, smooth within, joining towards the top a large polished callosity, by which the

columella Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (; Arabic: , 4 – ) was a prominent writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire. His ' in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture, together with the wo ...

and inferior surface of the whorls are entirely covered. The color is olive or of a brown fawn-color and ash, sprinkled with spots or clearer undulated lines. Sometimes one or two transverse brown bands surround the body whorl. The edge of the callosity is always of a more or less deep orange color.Kiener (1840). General species and iconography of recent shells : comprising the Massena Museum, the collection of Lamarck, the collection of the Museum of Natural History, and the recent discoveries of travellers; Boston :W.D. Ticknor,1837
(described as ''Buccinum gibbosulum'')

Distribution

This species occurs in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea off

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

Use in prehistory

The oldest known jewelry in the world consists of two perforated beads made from shells of this species. These were discovered at

Skhul Es-Skhul (es-Skhūl, ar, السخول; meaning ''kid'', ''young goat'') or the Skhul Cave is a prehistoric cave site situated about south of the city of Haifa, Israel, and about from the Mediterranean Sea. Together with the nearby sites of Ta ...

in Israel, and were recently dated to between 100,000 and 135,000 years ago. Similar ornaments (some made from ''

Nassarius kraussianus ''Nassarius kraussianus'', common name the tick shell, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Nassariidae, the Nassa mud snails or dog whelks. Description The size of the shell varies from 6 mm to 10 mm. ...

'' and the bittersweet clam ''

Glycymeris nummaria ''Glycymeris nummaria'' is a species of saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Glycymerididae, the bittersweet clams. Synonyms * ''Arca insubrica'' Brocchi, 1814 * ''Arca nummaria'' Linnaeus, 1758 * ''Glycymeris insubrica'' (Bro ...

'' as well as ''Nassarius gibbosulus'') have been discovered at a number of

Middle Paleolithic The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle Paleoli ...

sites and are considered a key piece of evidence for the theory that early

anatomically modern humans Early modern human (EMH) or anatomically modern human (AMH) are terms used to distinguish ''Homo sapiens'' (the only extant Hominina species) that are anatomically consistent with the range of phenotypes seen in contemporary humans from extin ...

in Africa and the Levant were more culturally sophisticated than had previously been thought. In some cases the shells have been transported a considerable distance from the species' natural habitat. One example is the site of

Oued Djebbana Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water onl ...

in Algeria, for example, where an ''N. gibbosulus'' bead has been found; this site was at least 190 km away from the sea at the time the shell was used there.

References

* Linnaeus C. von, 1758 :: stema Naturae. Editio decima. 1. Regnum Animale Holmiae, Laurentii Salvii iv + 824 p. * Röding P. F., 1798: Museum Boltenianum sive Catalogus Cimeliorum e tribus regnis naturae quae olim collegerat Joa. Fried. Bolten M. D. p. d. pars secunda continens Conchylia sive Testacea univalvia, bivalvia et multivalvia pp. VIII + 199 * Cernohorsky W. O. (1984). ''Systematics of the family Nassariidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda).'' Bulletin of the Auckland Institute and Museum 14: 1–356. * Puton E., 1856: ''Lettre au docteur Mougeot sur les Mollusques de Syrie, envoyés au musée des Vosges par M. le docteur Gaillardot''; Annales de la Société d'Émulation du Département des Vosges p. 219–231 * Locard A., 1892: ''Les coquilles marines des côtes de France''; Paris, J.B. Baillière & fils pp. 384. * Pallary P., 1912a: ''Catalogue des mollusques du littoral méditerranéen de l'Egypte''; Mémoires de l'Institut d'Egypte 7: 69–207, pl. 15-18 * Oliverio M. & Tringali L. (1992). ''Two sibling species of Nassariinae in the Mediterranean Sea (Prosobranchia, Muricidae, Nassariinae).'' Bollettino Malacologico 28(5–12): 157–160 * Gofas, S.; Le Renard, J.; Bouchet, P. (2001). Mollusca, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). ''European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification''. Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp. 180–213

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from2=Q6967460, from1=Q61700693 Nassariidae Gastropods described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus