Oliveragemmula congener, common name Melvill's turrid, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Turridae, the turrids.
Synonyms Gemmula congener cosmoi (Sykes, 1930): synonym of Oliveragemmula cosmoi (Sykes, 1930) Gemmula congener diomedea Powell, 1964: synonym of Oliveragemmula diomedea (A. W. B. Powell, 1964) Gemmula congener unilineata Powell, 1967: synonym of Cryptogemma unilineata (Powell, 1967) (basionym) Gemmula congener webberae Kilburn, 1975: synonym of Cryptogemma webberae (Kilburn, 1975)
Description The length of the shell varies between 40 mm and 90 mm.
(Original description in Latin) The white shell is fusiform and robust. It is faintly reddish-banded below the suture and reddish-dotted between the tubercles around the middle of the whorls. There are 10-12 convex whorls, encircled below the suture by a double band and around the middle by another flattened, tuberculated band. They are adorned with a few thin spiral lirae and conspicuous growth lines. The body whorl, below the band, is encircled by 5-6 lirae and intercalating striae, narrowing inferiorly and produced into a rostrum (beak). The columella is slightly oblique and rather straight. The outer lip is thin and incised at the tuberculated band. The aperture is lirate internally.Smith, E.A. 1894. Natural history notes from H.M. Indian Marine Survey Steamer "Investigator", Commander C.F. Oldham, R.N. - Series II., No. 10. Report on some Mollusca dredged in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 6 14(81): 157-174 366-368, pls 3-5
Distribution This marine species occurs in the Indo-West Pacific, in the Bay of Bengal, off the Philippines and off Western Australia; in the East China Sea, northern South China Sea and Nansha Islands; off Japan.
References
Schepman, M.M. 1913. Toxoglossa. pp. 384–396 in Weber, M. & de Beaufort, L.F. (eds). The Prosobranchia, Pulmonata and Opisthobranchia Tectibranchiata, Tribe Bullomorpha, of the Siboga Expedition. Monograph 49. Siboga Expeditie 32(2) Melvill, J.C. 1917. A revision of the Turridae (Pleurotomidae) occurring in the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman and North Arabian Sea as evidenced mostly through the results of dredging carried out by Mr. F.W. Townsend, 1893–1914. Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London 12(4-5): 140-201 Kilburn R.N. (1975). Taxonomic notes on South African marine Mollusca (5): including descriptions of new taxa of Rissoidae, Cerithiidae, Tonnidae, Cassididae, Buccinidae, Fasciolariidae, Turbinellidae, Turridae, Architectonicidae, Epitoniidae, Limidae and Thraciidae. Annals of the Natal Museum 22(2):577-622, figs. 1-25. Wilson, B. 1994. Australian marine shells. Prosobranch gastropods. Kallaroo, WA : Odyssey Publishing Vol. 2 370 pp. Liu, J.Y. [Ruiyu] (ed.). (2008). Checklist of marine biota of China seas. China Science Press. 1267 pp Li B. [Baoquan] & Li X. [Xinzheng]. (2008). Report on the turrid genera Gemmula, Lophiotoma and Ptychosyrinx (Gastropoda: Turridae: Turrinae) from the China seas. Zootaxa. 1778: 1-25. Kantor, Y., Bouchet, P., Fedosov, A., Puillandre, N. & Zaharias, P. (2024). Generic revision of the Recent Turridae (Neogastropoda: Conoidea). Journal of Molluscan Studies. eyae032: 1-40.
External links Powell, A.W.B. 1967. The Family Turridae in the Indo-Pacific. Part 1. The Subfamily Turrinae. Indo-Pacific Mollusca 1: 227-346 : figs 1-25 Tucker, J.K. 2004 Catalog of recent and fossil turrids (Mollusca: Gastropoda). Zootaxa 682:1-1295. Gastropods.com: Gemmula (Gemmula) congener congener