Laevistrombus turturella

Laevistrombus turturella is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Strombidae (true conches).^[1] It is one of seven living species currently recognized as valid in its genus.^[2]

Laevistrombus turturella
Five different views of a shell of an adult L. turturella: abapertural (upper left), right lateral (center), apertural (upper right), apical (lower left) and basal (lower right)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Littorinimorpha
Family:	Strombidae
Genus:	Laevistrombus
Species:	L. turturella
Binomial name
Laevistrombus turturella (Röding, 1798)
Synonyms[1]
Lambis turturella Röding, 1798 (original combination) Strombus isabella Lamarck, 1822

Distribution

Philippines area.

Taxonomy

There is some disagreement in the literature as to whether or not this taxon and the similar-looking Laevistrombus canarium are actually separate species. Man In 'T Veld & Turck (1998) considered that L. canarium and L. turturella are distinct (yet sympatric) species, based mainly on the shell morphology and a radula comparison.^[3] However, when Cob et. al. reviewed a number of Strombus species in 2009, examining both shell characters and anatomical data including details of the genitalia, operculum and radula, he concluded that L. turturella was simply a morphotype, and therefore a synonym of L. canarium.^[4] In 2019, Maxwell et al. examined the early teleoconch (upper post-larval shell spiral) morphology of specimens of Laevistrombus species; they treated L. turturella as a valid species, and elevated several names synonymized with L. canarium or L. turturella to full species status.^[5]