Peltospiroidea n. sp. East Scotia Ridge

Peltospiroidea n. sp. East Scotia Ridge
View of a number of peltospiroid gastropods (the brown snails) partially covered by limpets Lepetodrilus sp. (the small yellow-greenish oval shapes) at the East Scotia Ridge E2 hydrothermal vent site in the Scotia Sea. The scale bar is 10 cm.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Vetigastropoda
Superfamily: Peltospiroidea
Family: unclassified
Genus: unclassified
Species: Peltospiroidea n. sp.

Peltospiroidea n. sp. East Scotia Ridge (nomen nudum) is an as yet undescribed species of deep sea peltospiroid sea snail from hydrothermal vents, a marine gastropod mollusk in the clade Vetigastropoda.[1]

Taxonomy

The first information about this species, under the name "Peltospiroidea n. sp." or "peltospiroid gastropod", was published on 3 January 2012.[1] Peltospiroidea is the name of a superfamily of gastropods that was used in the taxonomy of the Gastropoda (Ponder & Lindberg, 1997). It contained the only extant family Peltospiridae (and some prehistoric gastropod families). However, the taxonomy of the Gastropoda (Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005) does not use the name Peltospiroidea (in that system, the family Peltopiridae is placed within the Neomphaloidea).

Location of E2 and E9 sites in the Scotia Sea showing the East Scotia Ridge (ESR) between the Scotia Plate (SCO) and South Sandwich Plate (SAN).

Distribution

This species is known from two sites near hydrothermal vents in the East Scotia Ridge of the south Atlantic Ocean: from 2,394 m depth at the E9 vent site and from the 2,608 m depth at the E2 site.[1]

Description

As yet there is very little information available about this undescribed species. According to the published photo,[1] the brown shell has rapidly expanding whorls and the length of the shell is about 2.5-3.0 cm.

No information was published about this species in GenBank as of January 2012.[2]

Ecology

This area between hydrothermal vent chimneys on the E9 site at a depth of 2,398 m is occupied by peltospiroid gastropods. Scale bar is 1 m.

This gastropod is generally found in dense aggregations up to ~1,000 m−2.[1]

Small limpets Lepetodrilus sp. East Scotia Ridge are sometimes found on the shells of this peltospiroid gastropod.[1] Other marine fauna, such as actinostolid sea anemones (family Actinostolidae), crabs in the genus Kiwa, and the pycnogonid arthropod or "sea spider" cf. Sericosura, can be found living together with this species.[1]

References

This article incorporates CC-BY-2.5 text from the reference[1]

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Rogers A.D., Tyler P.A., Connelly D.P., Copley J.T., James R., Larter R.D., Linse K., Mills R.A., Garabato A.N., Pancost R.D., Pearce D.A., Polunin N.V., German C.R., Shank T., Boersch-Supan P.H., Alker B.J., Aquilina A., Bennett S.A., Clarke A., Dinley R.J., Graham A.G., Green D.R., Hawkes J.A., Hepburn L., Hilario A., Huvenne V.A., Marsh L., Ramirez-Llodra E., Reid W.D., Roterman C.N., Sweeting C.J., Thatje S. & Zwirglmaier K. (2012). "The Discovery of New Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vent Communities in the Southern Ocean and Implications for Biogeography". PLoS Biology 10(1): e1001234. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001234.
  2. ↑ (4 February 2012) "searching for "Peltospiroidea" and "East Scotia Ridge" within Vetigastropoda" http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/
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