Antalis constricta
Antalis constricta
Summary
Antalis constricta was a tusk shell that lived buried in the soft sediment of the London Clay seabed. Only the narrow rear end of its curved tubular shell would have remained close to the sediment surface, while the animal’s foot and feeding organs worked within the mud below.
Like living scaphopods, it probably used numerous slender feeding tentacles called captacula to collect tiny organisms and organic particles from the sediment. London Clay material has been interpreted as infaunal and feeding on detritus and foraminifera, making this small mollusc both a burrower and a micropredator within the seabed community.
Quick Identification
Look for: a gently curved, tusk-shaped tubular shell that tapers towards the rear, is open at both ends when complete, and carries transverse growth rings that become finer and more closely spaced on the later shell.
Diagnostic Features
- Shell is long, narrow and distinctly tusk-shaped rather than coiled.
- Tube tapers steadily from the wider anterior end towards the narrow posterior end.
- Shell is gently curved rather than straight.
- Transverse annular sculpture is stronger and more widely spaced on the earlier shell, becoming finer and closer later in growth.
- Well-preserved shells may show a shallow V-shaped notch on the ventral side near the narrow posterior opening.
Fossil Details
Recorded Fossil Sites
No fossil-site occurrences have yet been recorded for this species.
References
- Jeffery, P.; Tracey, S. (1997). The Early Eocene London Clay Formation mollusc fauna of the former Bursledon Brickworks, Lower Swanwick, Hampshire. Tertiary Research, 17(3–4), 75–137 View reference