Phylum Mollusca (lit. “soft” or “shellfish” L.)
Class Gastropoda (lit. “stomach foot” G.), referring to the body structure of viscera lying overtop of the muscular foot
SubClass Orthogastropoda (lit. “straight gastropod” G.), referring not to the shape of the shell but to aspects of their phylogeny
SuperOrder Vetigastropoda¹; included together here for convenience are abalones and top shells in the following Families:
Family Haliotidae (lit. “sea” G.), including abalones (Haliotis)
Family Trochidae² (lit. “wheel” G.), including top and turban shells such as Tegula, Chlorostoma, Promartynia, Lirularia, Pupillaria (these last two were formerly in genus Margarites)
Family Calliostomatidae³ (lit. “more beautiful” “mouth” G.), including four genera of which Calliostoma is of most interest in the Odyssey
Family Turbinidae4 (lit. "spinning top" L.), including top shells Megastraea (Pomaulax, Astraea) gibberosa, M. undosa
NOTE¹ another SuperFamily of Vetigastropoda, the Fissurelloidea that includes keyhole limpets Diodora, is considered elsewhere in the MOLLUSCA /LIMPETS & RELATIVES
NOTE² some years ago the classification of west-coast trochids underwent major changes. Some species were placed in the genus Chlorostoma (auretincta, brunnea, ligulata, and montereyi), one into Promartynia (pulligo), and one into Tegula (funebralis). Most recently, new changes now place the following species into genus Tegula: aureotincta, brunnea, eiseni, funebralis, gallina, pulligo, regina. Because of all of this, references to these species in the ODYSSEY may sometimes include the old genus name in brackets (e.g., Chlorostoma (Tegula) funebralis) or "Chlorostoma" in brackets (e.g., Tegula (Chlorostoma) funebralis), or may just use the same older name as used by an author. These new changes have clarified and simplified the taxonomy of the trochids.
NOTE³ a recent review of the genus Calliostoma includes about 27 species on the west coast from Alaska to Baja California, some in quite deep water. Of these, four are of interest because they have featured in Research-Study articles in the Odyssey (a fifth additional species from Europe is also included). Photographs of these five can be found below.
NOTE4 as noted above the top shell Astraea gibberosa has for some time been reclassified as Pomaulax gibberosus
Alf 2019 Zoosympodia 13: 070
Tuskes 2019 Zoosymposia 13: 083