# Cingula
**Cingula** is a genus of small to minute marine gastropods in the family [Rissoidae](https://www.edgepedia.org/rissoidae), a worldwide family of tiny sea snails. The genus belongs to the class [Gastropoda](https://www.edgepedia.org/gastropoda), the subclass Caenogastropoda, the order Littorinimorpha, and the superfamily Rissooidea[1](https://mczbase.mcz.harvard.edu/name/Cingula). Its type species, originally described as *Turbo cingillus* Montagu, 1803, is currently accepted as *Cingula trifasciata* (J. Adams, 1800)[2](https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?id=141268&p=taxdetails).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Rank and family | Genus in the family Rissoidae Gray, 1847, superfamily Rissooidea, class Gastropoda[1](https://mczbase.mcz.harvard.edu/name/Cingula) |
| Authorship | Fleming, 1818 according to WoRMS and MCZbase; ITIS records Fleming, 1828[1](https://mczbase.mcz.harvard.edu/name/Cingula) • [3](https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=0070873) |
| Type species | *Turbo cingillus* Montagu, 1803, accepted as *Cingula trifasciata* (J. Adams, 1800)[2](https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?id=141268&p=taxdetails) |
| Species count | 23 species and 1 subspecies listed under the genus in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service taxonomic tree[4](https://www.fws.gov/taxonomic-tree/2236936) |
| Named species | Includes *C. trifasciata*, *C. tumidula* G.O. Sars, 1878, *C. alaskana* Bartsch, 1912, and *C. semistriata* Montagu, 1803, among others[3](https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=0070873) • [5](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27811650/) |
| Higher classification debate | Molecular work has found Rissoidae not to be monophyletic as traditionally circumscribed[6](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23238494/) |
## Nomenclature and type species
The genus name *Cingula* is credited to the Scottish naturalist [John Fleming](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-fleming)[14](https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?print_version=PRT&search_topic=TSN&search_value=70873&source=to_print). The date of the name differs between major databases: the [World Register of Marine Species](https://www.edgepedia.org/world-register-of-marine-species) (WoRMS) and the Museum of Comparative Zoology's MCZbase give 1818[1](https://mczbase.mcz.harvard.edu/name/Cingula) • [7](https://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/data/uk-species/hierarchy?orgKey=NBNORG0000113847), while the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) gives 1828[3](https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=0070873).
The type species has a tangled nomenclatural history typical of early nineteenth-century British conchology. James Adams described *Turbo trifasciatus* in 1800, and George Montagu described *Turbo cingillus* in 1803 in his *Testacea Britannica*; the current accepted name for this species is *Cingula trifasciata* (J. Adams, 1800), with *Turbo cingillus* treated as an unaccepted synonym[2](https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?id=141268&p=taxdetails). Syntype specimens of *Turbo cingillus* (four shells on a blue card, catalog EXEMS Moll4213) are held at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter[8](https://gbmolluscatypes.ac.uk/specimens/126). Other names synonymized under *C. trifasciata* include *Rissoa cingillata* MacGillivray, 1843, *Rissoa graphica* T. Brown, 1844, *Rissoa fallax* T. Brown, 1839, *Rissoa rupestris* Forbes, 1840, and *Turbo vittatus* Donovan, 1804[2](https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?id=141268&p=taxdetails).
## Species and distribution
WoRMS records *Cingula trifasciata* as a marine species that is absent from the continental shores of the [North Sea](https://www.edgepedia.org/north-sea)[2](https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?id=141268&p=taxdetails). The genus also extends to other ocean regions: *Cingula vaga* (E. A. Smith, 1890), originally described as *Rissoa vaga*, has its type locality within the St. Helena Exclusive Economic Zone in the South Atlantic, with syntypes held at the [Natural History Museum, London](https://www.edgepedia.org/natural-history-museum-london)[9](https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?id=532621&p=taxdetails). Species listed by ITIS under the genus include northeastern Pacific and Arctic names such as *Cingula alaskana* Bartsch, 1912, *C. aleutica* Dall, 1886, and *C. montereyensis* Bartsch, 1912, alongside northeastern Atlantic species such as *C. semistriata* Montagu, 1803[3](https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=0070873).
Species counts vary with the source and the taxonomic scope used. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service taxonomic tree lists 23 species and 1 subspecies under *Cingula*[4](https://www.fws.gov/taxonomic-tree/2236936), while MCZbase records 44 included species names, many of them historical combinations now placed in other genera such as *Onoba* and *Hyala*[1](https://mczbase.mcz.harvard.edu/name/Cingula).
## Anatomy and systematic position
Within the Rissoidae, *Cingula* belongs to the group that Winston F. Ponder, an [Australian Museum](https://www.edgepedia.org/australian-museum) malacologist known for his revisions of the family, treated in 1967 as the basis of the subfamily Rissoinae, together with *[Rissoa](https://www.edgepedia.org/rissoa)*, *Alvania*, and *Alvinia*, a group predominant in the [Northern Hemisphere](https://www.edgepedia.org/northern-hemisphere). He characterized this subfamily by the possession of a crystalline style in the stomach, the absence of esophageal glands, and a well-developed posterior pedal mucous gland whose tubules ramify into the head[10](https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/TRSZOO19670929.2.2).
The generic composition of the family was revised by Ponder in 1984 on the basis of external morphology and internal anatomy[5](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27811650/). Species-level taxonomy, however, has remained based mainly on conchological characters, the shape and sculpture of the shell, which Ivan O. Nekhaev, a zoologist at Saint-Petersburg State University, noted in 2016 are less informative and usually not sufficient for resolving the systematic relationships of species[5](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27811650/). Nekhaev's 2016 study in *Zootaxa* (volume 4184, issue 2, pages 395 to 400) examined the morphology and systematic position of *Cingula tumidula* G.O. Sars, 1878[5](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27811650/).
Molecular phylogenetics has since changed the picture. A 2012 analysis of 16S and 28S sequences by Francesco Criscione, Winston F. Ponder, and colleagues at the Australian Museum Research Institute and the [University of Tokyo](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-tokyo) found that Rissoidae is not monophyletic, with some genera grouping outside the family as traditionally defined[6](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23238494/). Their 2016 molecular phylogeny of the Rissoidae further showed that relationships among rissoid taxa challenge the current systematics, indicating the non-monophyly of some genera with purportedly trans-oceanic distributions and the need for taxonomic revision of some highly diverse genera[11](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/zoj.12447). The same study concluded that most of the diagnostic morphological characters studied exhibit widespread convergence, although some prove useful in separating genera and broader taxonomic groups[11](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/zoj.12447).
## Historical taxonomy
Many species now placed in other rissoid genera were originally described in *Cingula* or its subgenera. MCZbase records historical combinations such as *Cingula (Onoba) aculeus* Gould, 1841, *Cingula (Hyala) vitrea* Montagu, and *Cingula (Pseudosetia) turgida* Jeffreys[1](https://mczbase.mcz.harvard.edu/name/Cingula). In the Mediterranean, the subgenus *Setia* H. Adams & A. Adams, 1852 was formerly treated as *Cingula (Setia)*, and species such as *Cingula (Setia) fusca* (Philippi, 1841) were identified in part by shell color[12](https://natuurtijdschriften.nl/pub/596691/BAST1978042001008.pdf). A 1984 review by A. Verduin of some recent European marine species of the genus *Cingula* sensu lato remains the basis of record for several Mediterranean names, including *Cingula turriculata* (Monterosato, 1884), now treated as unaccepted[13](https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?id=1436311&p=taxdetails).
## References
1. [Cingula Fleming, 1818, MCZbase, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University](https://mczbase.mcz.harvard.edu/name/Cingula)
2. [Cingula trifasciata (J. Adams, 1800), WoRMS, World Register of Marine Species](https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?id=141268&p=taxdetails)
3. [Cingula Fleming, 1828, TSN 70873, Integrated Taxonomic Information System](https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=0070873)
4. [Explore the Taxonomic Tree: Cingula, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service](https://www.fws.gov/taxonomic-tree/2236936)
5. [Nekhaev, I. O. (2016). Morphology and systematic position of Cingula tumidula G.O. Sars, 1878 (Gastropoda: Rissoidae). Zootaxa 4184(2): 395-400. PMID 27811650](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27811650/)
6. [Criscione, F., Ponder, W. F., Köhler, F., et al. (2012). A phylogenetic analysis of rissooidean and cingulopsoidean families (Gastropoda: Caenogastropoda). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. PMID 23238494](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23238494/)
7. [Taxonomic hierarchy for Rissoidae Gray, 1847, Species Dictionary, Natural History Museum, London](https://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/data/uk-species/hierarchy?orgKey=NBNORG0000113847)
8. [Turbo cingillus Montagu, 1803, EXEMS Moll4213, Mollusca Types in Britain & Ireland](https://gbmolluscatypes.ac.uk/specimens/126)
9. [Cingula vaga (E. A. Smith, 1890), WoRMS, World Register of Marine Species](https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?id=532621&p=taxdetails)
10. [Ponder, W. F. (1967). The Classification of the Rissoidae and Certain Other Families. Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand: Zoology](https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/TRSZOO19670929.2.2)
11. [Criscione, F., Ponder, W. F., Köhler, F., Takano, T., & Kano, Y. (2016). A molecular phylogeny of Rissoidae (Caenogastropoda: Rissooidea). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/zoj.12447)
12. [van Aartsen, J. J., & Verduin, A. J. (1978). Cingula in the Mediterranean. Basteria 42](https://natuurtijdschriften.nl/pub/596691/BAST1978042001008.pdf)
13. [Cingula turriculata (Monterosato, 1884), WoRMS, World Register of Marine Species](https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?id=1436311&p=taxdetails)
14. [ITIS - Report: Cingula](https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?print_version=PRT&search_topic=TSN&search_value=70873&source=to_print)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Life and health › Animals › Invertebrates › Molluscs › Gastropods › Caenogastropoda › Freshwater Rissooidea and hydrobioids › Rissoidae and Barleeidae*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 20, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license