Margarella antarctica

Margarella antarctica
shell of Margarella antarctica (syntype at MNHN, Paris)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Vetigastropoda
Order: Trochida
Superfamily: Trochoidea
Family: Calliostomatidae
Genus: Margarella
Species:
M. antarctica
Binomial name
Margarella antarctica
(Lamy, 1905) [1]
Synonyms
  • Margarella antarctica Powell, 1951
  • Margarita antarctica Lamy, 1905 (basionym)
  • Valvatella antarctica (Lamy, 1905)

Margarella antarctica is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Calliostomatidae, the top snails.[2]

Distribution

This marine species occurs off the South Orkney Islands, the South Shetland Islands, the Antarctic Peninsula, and the Bellingshausen Sea.

Description

It is orange-yellow, with two pairs of cephalic tentacles with large black eyes.[3] The shell is small, and wider than it is high.[3] The orbicular, deeply umbilicated shell has an obtuse-conical shape. It contains four convex whorls, the last of which is adorned only by growth lines. The oblique aperture is sub-circular and pearly inside. In, adults its edges are joined by a callus . The operculum is polygyrous spiral. The color of the shell is bluish gray or greenish.[1] The maximum recorded shell length is 12.5 mm.[4]

Habitat

Minimum recorded depth is 0 m.[4] Maximum recorded depth is 24 m.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b Charcot, Lamy et al. (1906), Expédition antarctique française (1903–1905) fasc. 3 (1906)
  2. ^ Margarella antarctica (Lamy, 1905). Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 19 December 2012.
  3. ^ a b Bouchet, P. (2010). Margarella whiteana Linse, 2002. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=197259 on 2011-03-17
  4. ^ a b c Welch J. J. (2010). "The "Island Rule" and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". PLoS ONE 5(1): e8776. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008776.
  • Zelaya D.G. (2004) The genus Margarella Thiele, 1893 (Gastropoda: Trochidae) in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean. The Nautilus 118(3): 112–120
  • Engl W. (2012) Shells of Antarctica. Hackenheim: Conchbooks. 402 pp
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