Volvulella rostralina
Volvulella rostralina
Summary
Volvulella rostralina was a minute headshield snail living on or just within the soft London Clay seabed. It was probably a mobile feeder that moved through the sediment surface rather than remaining fixed in one place.
Related headshield snails are active prey feeders, so V. rostralina likely hunted very small motile benthic animals. The precise prey is unknown and the feeding interpretation is inferred from its relatives rather than preserved soft anatomy.
Quick Identification
Look for: a minute pear-shaped shell with the lower half noticeably swollen, the opposite end drawn into a long sharp rostrum, no exposed coiled spire, and a long narrow aperture extending nearly the full shell length.
Diagnostic Features
- Shell has an elongate-pyriform outline, with its greatest inflation in the lower half.
- The apical end is prolonged into a conspicuous, slender rostrum.
- The spire is completely involute and concealed beneath the rostrate apex.
- The aperture extends through almost the full shell length and broadens toward the rounded anterior end.
- The outer lip is only moderately dilated and the shell surface is predominantly smooth or very weakly striate.
Fossil Details
Similar Species
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