Haustellum is a genus of medium-sized sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the familyMuricidae, the murex snails or rock snails. Like many other genera within the Muricidae, the genus has been redefined several times.
Ponder & Vokes (1988) and Vokes (1990) included American and Indo-Pacific species in Haustellum, which differs from Murex sensu stricto by lacking a labral spine.
Petuch (1994) introduced Vokesimurex for the American long-canalled Haustellum sensu Vokes (1990), such as Murex messorius Sowerby, 1841.
Houart (1999) transferred 14 Indo-Pacific species and three subspecies of Haustellum in the genus Vokesimurex.
As currently defined, Haustellum is represented by eight to nine species. Members of Haustellum generally differ from those of Vokesimurex in having a globose and low-spired shape, a more rounded aperture, a smooth columella, a less deep anal notch, and no cord spine.
Species
Species within the genus Haustellum include:
Haustellum barbieri Houart, 1993
Haustellum bondarevi Houart, 1999
Haustellum damarcoi Briano & Damarco, 2011
Haustellum fallax (E. A. Smith, 1901)
Haustellum franchii Bozzetti, 1993
Haustellum haustellum (Linnaeus, 1758)
Haustellum kurodai Shikama, 1964
Haustellum langleitae Houart, 1993
Haustellum longicaudum (F. C. Baker, 1891)
Haustellum lorenzi Houart, 2013
Haustellum tweedianum (Macpherson, 1962):
Haustellum vicdani Kosuge, 1980
Haustellum wilsoni D'Attilio & Old, 1971
Species brought into synonymy
Haustellum bobyini (Kosuge, 1983): synonym of Vokesimurex bobyini (Kosuge, 1983)
Haustellum brandaris (Linnaeus, 1758) is a synonym for Bolinus brandaris (Linnaeus, 1758)
Haustellum clavatum Schumacher, 1817: synonym of Bolinus brandaris (Linnaeus, 1758)
Haustellum danilai Houart, 1992: synonym of Vokesimurex danilai (Houart, 1992)
There is no record of extinct species in the geological register. The oldest member is the type species Haustellum haustellum from the Indo-Pacific province. It is recorded from the Miocene of Borneo (Beets, 1941), the Pliocene of Java, Indonesia and the Plio-Pleistocene of the Malaysian Archipelago.
