The oldest turritelline gastropods: from the Oxfordian (Upper Jurassic) of Kutch, India

Abstract

Turritellid gastropods are important components of many Cretaceous–Recent fossil marine faunas worldwide. Their shell is morphologically simple, making homoplasy widespread and phylogenetic analysis difficult, but fossil and living species can be recognized based on shell characters. For many decades, it has been the consensus that the oldest definite representatives of Turritellidae are from the Lower Cretaceous, and that pre-Cretaceous forms are homeomorphs. Some morphological characters of the present turritelline species resemble those of mathildoids, but many diagnostic characters clearly separate these two groups. We here describe and/or redescribe—based on examination of more than 2600 near complete specimens—four species from the Upper Jurassic Dhosa Oolite Member of the Chari Formation in Kutch, western India, and demonstrate that they are members of Turritellidae, subfamily Turritellinae, on the basis of diagnostic characters including apical sculptural ontogeny (obtained from SEM study), spiral sculpture, and growth line patterns. The four species are in order of abundance, Turritella jadavpuriensis Mitra and Ghosh, 1979; Turritella amitava new species; Turritella jhuraensis Mitra and Ghosh, 1979, and Turritella dhosaensis new species. The turritelline assemblages occur only on the northeastern flank of the Jhura dome (23°24’47.57”N, 69°36’09.26”E). Age of the Dhosa Oolite has recently been confirmed based on multiple ammonite species. All these points indicate that these fossils are the oldest record of the family Turritellidae—by almost 30 million years—in the world.

Metabolic Regulation, Oxygen Limitation and Heat Tolerance in a Subtidal Marine Gastropod Reveal the Complexity of Predicting Climate Change Vulnerability

“…Its thermal physiology suggests trait conservation, with unexpressed phenotypes under natural circumstances being retained in evolutionary lineages ( Angilletta, 2009 ; Grigg and Buckley, 2013 ). Although T. bacillum is thought to have originated since the Plio-Pleistocene period ( Das et al, 2018 ), older turriteline lineages date to the Cretaceous and have survived the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (see Ivany et al, 2018 ), the hottest time in the history of the living planet. Alternatively, heat tolerance may be a more recent acquisition, linked to earlier occupation of the thermally variable intertidal zone.…”

“…T. bacillum is related to other cerithioidean species (Planaxidae, Potamididae, and Thiaridae) that have utilized metabolic depression and estivation to radiate in fringe environments (high-rocky shores, mangroves, and brackish and freshwater systems; Houbrick, 1988 ; Strong et al, 2008 , 2011 ). Although T. bacillum lives in a thermally stable environment (25–31°C), as a species it dates to before the Plio-Pleistocene when temperatures were 2–3°C higher than present ( Allmon, 2011 ; Das et al, 2018 ); the family dates back to the Cretaceous before the appreciably hotter Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, 5°C higher than today; Das et al, 2018 ; Ivany et al, 2018 ). Although they are key components of tropical marine ecosystems, information on the physiology of subtidal gastropods is missing from mainstream models for climate change vulnerability ( Deutsch et al, 2008 ; Sunday et al, 2012,2014 ; Bennett et al, 2018 ; Pinsky et al, 2019 ).…”

“…T. bacillum is related to other cerithioidean species (Planaxidae, Potamididae, and Thiaridae) that have utilized metabolic depression and estivation to radiate in fringe environments (high-rocky shores, mangroves, and brackish and freshwater systems ;Houbrick, 1988;Strong et al, 2008Strong et al, , 2011). Although T. bacillum lives in a thermally stable environment (25-31 • C), as a species it dates to before the Plio-Pleistocene when temperatures were 2-3 • C higher than present (Allmon, 2011;Das et al, 2018); the family dates back to the Cretaceous before the appreciably hotter Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, 5 • C higher than • Metabolic stressseen by one or combinations of hemolymph reduced pCO 2 , reduced pH and elevated pO 2…”

“…today; Das et al, 2018;Ivany et al, 2018). Although they are key components of tropical marine ecosystems, information on the physiology of subtidal gastropods is missing from mainstream models for climate change vulnerability (Deutsch et al, 2008;Sunday et al, 2012Sunday et al, , 2014Bennett et al, 2018;Pinsky et al, 2019).…”

Paleoecology of naticid–molluscan prey interaction during the Late Jurassic (Oxfordian) in Kutch, India: evolutionary implications

“…Against this backdrop, we herein report naticid drill holes in shells from a molluscan assemblage from the Upper Jurassic beds of Kutch, where naticid body fossils are recorded together with various other gastropods and bivalves (Das et al, 2019). The assemblage is dominated by turritellines (Das et al, 2018) and represents a turritelline-dominated assemblage (TDA) in the sense of Allmon (2007; detailed discussion follows). In the present study, we record the oldest interaction between naticid predators and turritelline prey.…”