| abapical | pointing away from the apex along the axis. |
| abyssal | sea bed at 4000-6000m depth. |
| abyssopelagic | Pelagic phase at 4000-6000m depth |
| adapical | pointing towards the apex along the axis. |
| aff. or affinis | The term affinis (or sp. aff = species affinis) is used when the identity of a distinct biological species is unknown but it has a striking similarity or close relation with a known species |
| alate | winged, having alae. |
| allochthon | geological object, that has been transported from the place where it has been formed to the place where it is found, see also autochthon. |
| AMNH | American Museum of Natural History, New York |
| AMS | Australian Museum, Sydney |
| ANSP | Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. |
| anterior | pointing away from the apex |
| aperture | Opening at last formed margin of shell Wikipedia |
| apex | The tip of the gastropods spire, the part of the gastropod where it began to grow. |
| aragonite | is a carbonate mineral, one of the two most common, naturally occurring, crystal forms of calcium carbonate, CaCO3 and is the high pressure polymorph of calcium carbonate. Aragonite forms naturally in almost all mollusk shells, and as the calcareous endoskeleton of warm- and cold-water corals. |
| ASUC | Ain Shams University Geology, Cairo. |
| autochthon | geological object, which is in the place of its original formation, see also parautochthon, allochthon |
| bathyal | Sea bed at 1000-4000m depth, same as "continental rise" |
| bathypelagic | Pelagic phase 1000-4000m depth |
| BHU | Benares Hindu University |
| bicarinate | with two spiral keels. |
| BM(NH) | British Museum (Natural History), now The Natural History Museum London |
| BMSM | Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum |
| BMUW | Burke Museum, University of Washington, Seattle |
| BNHM | Basel Natural History Museum |
| brachyhaline (polyhaline) | water with a salinity of 1,8 - 3,0 % (Hudson, 1990) |
| BRIT | Biological Research Institute, Takarazuka, Japan |
| BRLSI | Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution |
| calcite | is a carbonate mineral and the most stable polymorph of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). |
| carbonate sedimentary rocks | are sedimentary rocks formed at (or near) the Earth's surface by precipitation from solution at surface temperatures or by accumulation and lithification of fragments of preexisting rocks or remains of organisms |
| carinate | with a spiral keel. |
| CAS | California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco |
| cf. | (Latin for confer = compares with) is used in similar papers to indicate that the specimen resembles the named species very closely, but has certain minor features not found on the type specimens. |
| chalk | calcium carbonate or CaCO3, with minor amounts of silt and clay |
| clastic | Sediments composed of mechanical breakdown of rocks, such as mud, sand and gravel. I Geology: rocks composed clastic sediments, such as sandstone. |
| CMNH | Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh |
| CMNZ | Canterbury Museum, Christchurch, New Zealand |
| coinductura | is a secondary shell layer extending over the inner lip within the aperture and covering only a small part of the inductura (Moore, 1941) |
| continental shelf | to edge of continental slope (normally about 200m). |
| continental slope | Sea bed from 200-1000m depth |
| CPAS | Centro Português de Atividades Subaquáticas, Lisbon |
| cyronym | valid name. |
| deposit feeder | animal feeding on bacteria, phytoplankton, zooplankton and detritus by filtering sediment. |
| DMNH | Delaware Museum of Natural History, Wilmington |
| dorsal | towards the back of the shell or the mollusc animal, opposite: ventral. |
| ECU | East Carolina University, Greenville |
| epifaunal | living above the sediment. |
| epipelagic | Pelagic phase above shelf break (200m depth) |
| euhaline | seawater with a salinity of 3,0 - 4,0 %. (Hudson, 1990) |
| euryhaline | organisms are able to adapt to a wide range of salinities |
| fathom | 1 fathom = 1.8288 meters. |
| feet | 1 feet = 0.3048 meters. |
| FLMNH | Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville |
| FMNH | The Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago |
| fresh water | water with a salinity lower 0,05 % (Hudson, 1990) |
| FWWB | fair weather wave base: refers to the depth beneath the waves under normal conditions and the portion of the seafloor that is agitated by this everyday wave action is known as the Upper shoreface, see Wikipedia |
| GDKU | Geology Department, Kyushu University, Fukuoka |
| GITU | Geol. Min. Tokyo Univ. Educ. |
| GIUT | Geological Institute, University of Tokyo |
| GIYU | Geological Institute, Yokohama National University |
| GMBI | Geology Museum, Bandung, Indonesia |
| GMCE | Geological Museum of Cairo, Egypt |
| GPIH | Geologisch-Paläontologisches Institut und Museum, Universität Hamburg. |
| GPIB | Geologisches-Paläontologisches Institut Bonn, Germany; old terminology. new: IPB |
| GSI | Geological Survey of India, Calcutta |
| hadal | Sea bed below 6000m depth |
| hadopelagic | Pelagic phase below 6000m depth |
| HMNS | Houston Museum of Natural Science |
| HNMB | Hungarian National Museum, Budapest |
| holotype | The holotype is that single specimen, which is the basis for the description and the naming of a species. |
| HSGI | Hungarian State Geology Institute, Budapest |
| HUJ | Hebrew Univeristy of Jerusalem |
| hybrid | an offspring resulting from cross-breeding between two different species |
| IAUU | Instituut voor Aardwetenschappen, Utrecht University |
| IGPS | Geo-Paleontology Institute, Tohoku University, Sendai |
| IGUT | Institute of Geoscience, University of Tsukuba. |
| IMT | Institute of Malacology, Tokyo |
| inductura | Smooth shelly layer secreted by general surface of mantle, commonly extending from inner side of aperture over parietal region, columellar lip, and (in some genera) part or all of shell exterior |
| infaunal | living in the sediment. A hint for an infaunal life could be the ratio of naticid to muricid borings. Most Naticids attack their prey infaunally, Muricids epifaunally. |
| infralittoral fringe | The fringe between the low tide level and the subtidal |
| intertidal | Between spring high and low tide marks |
| IPB | Steinmann-Institut, Dep. Paleontology, Bonn |
| IRScNB | L’Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique. |
| IRSN | Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles, Brussels |
| JHU | Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore |
| JUE | Joetsu University of Education, Niigata Prefecture |
| KIMN | Kikuchi Institute of Malacology, Nishinomiya, Japan |
| KPMY | Kanagawa Prefectural Museum, Yokohama |
| LACM | Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles |
| LACMIP | Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Invertebrate Paleontology Department, Los Angeles, CA, USA. |
| lectotype | The lectotype is a specimen choosen from a series of syntypes as an equivalent to the holotype. |
| LMD | Löbbecke Museum, Düsseldorf |
| LSL | Linnaen Society of London |
| MACN | Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia," Buenos Aires |
| MBA | Museo de Buenos Aires |
| MBL | Museu Bocage, Lisbon |
| MBML | Missao de Biologica Maritima, Lisbon |
| MCNM | Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Milan |
| MCZH | Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge |
| MDNG | Museum der Natur, Gotha |
| mesohaline | water with a salinity of 0,5 - 1,8 % (Hudson, 1990) |
| mesopelagic | Pelagic phase from 200-1000m depth |
| MFMJ | Mizunami Fossil Museum, Mizunami, Japan |
| MHNG | Museum d’Histoire Naturelle, Genève |
| MIGiG | Paleontological Museum of United Institute of Geology, Geophysics and Mineralogy, Russian Academy of Sciences in Novosibirsk |
| MIGK | Museum of the Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Kyoto |
| MIGT | Museo dell'Istituto di Geologia, Turin |
| MJSN | Musée jurassien des sciences naturelles, Jardin Botanique, Porrentruy |
| (type species by) monotypy | is when in the original description of a genus only one species is mentioned which should be attributed to that particular new genus, but no statement is made whether there are more species to be allocated to that new genus, or a statement such as (e.g.): Aporrhais quatorcarinata belongs to this new genus. |
| MLPA | Mueso de La Plata, La Plata |
| MNCM | Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales de Madrid |
| MNHB | Museum der Naturkunde für Humboldt Universität zu Berlin |
| MNHN | Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris |
| MNHU | Museum für Naturkunde, Humboldt-Universtät Berlin |
| MNRJ | Museu Nacional da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| MORG | Museu Oceanográfico da Fundação Universidade de Rio Grande, Brazil |
| MPUH | Museum Poey, University of Havana |
| MSNP | Museo di Storia Naturale, Università di Pisa |
| multispiral protoconch | has 2,5 or more whorls |
| NHMW | Naturhistorisches Museum Wien |
| NMC | Natur-Museum, Coburg |
| NMNL | National Museum of Natural History Naturalis, Leiden |
| NMNS | National Museum of Natural Science, Taichung, Taiwan |
| NMSA | Natal Museum, Pietermaritzburg |
| NMSF | Natur-Museum Senckenberg, Frankfurt |
| NMVM | National Museum of Victoria, Melbourne |
| NMW | National Museum of Wales, Cardiff |
| nomen nudum | (Latin for "naked name") A scientific name without a description. More: see Wikipedia |
| NP1-25 | Paleogene Nannoplankton zones (Martini, 1971) |
| NRM | Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet in Stockholm |
| NSMN | Nishinomiya Shell Museum, Nishinomiya |
| NSMT | stands for National Science Museum Tokyo |
| NMB | stands for Naturhistorisches Museum Basel |
| NZGS | New Zealand Geological Survey, Lower Hutt |
| oligohaline | water with a salinity from 0,05 - 0,5 % (Hudson, 1990) |
| operculum | (pl. opercula) in stromboidean shells: a horny plate, attached dorsally to the foot. It serves the mollusc to close the aperture after withdrawing into the shell. In Strombidae, it is used sometimes during locomotion. |
| (type species by) original designation | is that the type species was designated in the original publication where the genus was described, and the type species was explicitely stated as being the type species. |
| paratype | Paratypes are specimens that the author of a new species used and cited for the description and naming, other than the holotype. |
| parautochthone | geological object, that has been slightly transported from the place where it has been formed to the place where it is found, see also autochthon, allochthon. |
| paucispiral protoconch | has 2,0 or fewer whorls |
| pelagic | Use only if more specific depth information is lacking. |
| perinductura | is a secondary shell layer assumed to be secreted by a mantle flap reflected back over the outer apertural lip (Moore, 1941) |
| posterior | pointing towards the apex |
| PRI | Paleontological Research Institute, Ithaca |
| protoconch | Shell of the gastropod embryo or larval stadium, becomes later the apex. |
| RBCM | Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, Canada. |
| RGM | Rijksmuseum van Geologie en Mineralogie, Leiden (now part of Naturalis) |
| RMSE | Royal Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh |
| rostrum | beak-shaped abapical extension of the aperture |
| SAM | South African Museum in Cape Town, South Africa. |
| SAMA | South Australian Museum, Adelaide |
| SBMH | Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara |
| SGO.PI. | Departamento de Paleontologý´a de Invertebrados, Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Santiago, Chile |
| shallow subtidal | Sea bed from low tide mark to 5m depth |
| siderite | a widespread brown mineral, Iron Carbonate without additional anions, without H2O |
| siliciclastic | (siliclastic) Sediments composed of non-carbonate rocks, such as quartz or other silicates. |
| siphonal canal | semi-tubular abapical extension of the aperture, see wikipedia |
| s.l. | sensu lato (latin) = in a broad sense. |
| SMF | Senckenberg Museum Frankfurt |
| SMNS | Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde, Stuttgart |
| s.s. | sensu stricto (latin) = in a narrow sense. |
| stenohaline | describes an organism that cannot tolerate a wide fluctuation in the salinity of water |
| subtidal | Sea bed from 5-20m depth |
| supratidal | Above the high tide mark |
| SUPT | Stanford University Paleontological Type Collection |
| (type species by) subsequent designation | is comparable to a lectotype. In the original description an author says (e.g.) "To this new genus the following species belong: Aporrhais quatorcarinata , A. tridentata, A. monodactylus and A. pentacostata." In this statement, no species is designated as being the type species, and either of the formentioned four species is eligible as type species. Any designation of a type species after the original description [in another publication that is] is a subsequent designation. |
| suspension feeder | animal feeding on bacteria, phytoplankton, zooplankton and detritus by filtering water |
| suture | continuous line on shell surface where whorls adjoin see also Wikipedia |
| SWB | storm wave base refers to the depths beneath storm-driven waves and can be much deeper. The portion of the seafloor that is only agitated by storm-driven wave action is known as the Lower shoreface, see Wikipedia |
| syntype | Syntypes are those specimens that an author used as basis to describe and name a new species and where he did not choose a holotype. |
| taxon | a group or category of living or fossil organisms. Example: species, genus, family, ... |
| THTA | Teramachi Hall, Toba Aquarium, Toba, Japan |
| TMGS | Taiwan Museum of Geological Science, Taipei |
| TMH | Tasmanian Museum Art Gallery, Hobart |
| TMUA | Tate Museum, University of Adelaide |
| TRFR | Tokai Regional Fishery Research Labortory, Tokyo, Japan |
| UBRG | Université du Bordeaux, United Etudé de Recherches Géologique d'Aquitaine |
| UCBL | Université ClaudeBernard, Lyon |
| UCMP | University of California Museum of Paleontology (Berkeley) |
| UMMP | University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology |
| USNM | National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. |
| UUZM | Zoologische Institute, University of Uppsala, Sweden |
| UZMC | Universitetets Zoologiske Museum, Copenhagen |
| ventral | underside of the shell (where the aperture is), opposite: dorsal |
| WAM | Western Australian Museum, Perth |
| WFIS | Wagner Free Institute of Science, Philadelphia |
| WPMN | Wakayama Prefectural Museum of Natural History, Wakayama City |
| YPM | Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History |
| ZMA | Zoologisches Museum Amsterdam |
| ZMB | Zoologisches Museum Berlin |
| ZMMU | Zoological Museum, Moscow State University |
| ZMUA | Zoologisch Museum, University of Amsterdam |
| ZMUC | Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen |
| ZPAL | Polish Academy of Sciences in Warszawa |
| ZSIC | Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta, India |
| ZSM | Zoologische Staatssammlung, Munich |
