Phorculus Cossmann, 1888

Harzhauser, Mathias, 2021, The Cainozoic to present-day record of Circum-Mediterranean, NE Atlantic and North Sea Cantharidinae and Trochinae (Trochoidea, Gastropoda) - a synopsis, Zootaxa 4902 (1), pp. 1-81 : 49

Genus Phorculus Cossmann, 1888 †

Type species. Turbo fraterculus Deshayes, 1863 , OD ( Cossmann 1888: 61), France, Eocene, France.

Diagnosis. Small trochiform shells with low spire and regularly convex teleoconch whorls. Sculpture consisting of prominent, broad or partly keel-like spiral cords with deep interspaces. Umbilicus open and deep.

Remarks. This genus is morphologically well defined due to its prominent spiral sculpture. It seems to have been restricted to the NE Atlantic where it originated during the early Eocene and became typical during the middle Eocene. After a considerable gap, its last representative occurred during the early Miocene.