''Antarctoneptunea'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

sea snail Sea snails are slow-moving marine (ocean), marine gastropod Mollusca, molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the Taxonomic classification, taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguishe ...

s, marine

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

mollusk Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The ...

s in the whelk

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Austrosiphonidae The Austrosiphonidae are a taxonomic family of large sea snails, often known as whelks.MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Austrosiphonidae Cotton & Godfrey, 1938. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecie ...

Distribution

''Antarctoneptunea'' marine snails occur in deep water surrounding

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and in Southern Ocean encircling Antarctica, particularly in the

Ross Sea The Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica, between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land and within the Ross Embayment, and is the southernmost sea on Earth. It derives its name from the British explorer James Clark Ross who ...

. Dell R.K., (1990). Antarctic Mollusca with special reference to the fauna of the Ross Sea, The Royal Society of New Zealand Bulletin 27.

Evolution

Molecular phylogenetic trees based on mitochondrial genomic and nuclear

ribosomal DNA The ribosomal DNA (rDNA) consists of a group of ribosomal RNA encoding genes and related regulatory elements, and is widespread in similar configuration in all domains of life. The ribosomal DNA encodes the non-coding ribosomal RNA, integral struc ...

sequence data indicate that ''Antarctoneptunea'' is closely related to the Northern Hemisphere genus '' Kelletia'', and ''

Penion ''Penion'' is a genus of large marine (ocean), marine snails, commonly known as siphon whelks, classified within the mollusc family (biology), family Austrosiphonidae.MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Penion P. Fischer, 1884. Accessed throu ...

'' siphon whelks found in waters surrounding New Zealand and Australia. It has been suggested that some Antarctic fossil species of ''Penion'' are misclassified ''Antarctoneptunea''.

Species

Species within the genus ''Antarctoneptunea'' include: * '' Antarctoneptunea aurora'' (Hedley, 1916) * '' Antarctoneptunea benthicola'' (Dell, 1956) ;Species brought into synonymy: * ''Penion benthicolus delli'' Powell, 1971: synonym of '' Antarctoneptunea benthicola'' (Dell, 1956) Dell, R.K. 1995
New species and records of deep-water Mollusca from off New Zealand. ''Tuhinga: Records of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa'', 2: 1 - 26.
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References

External links

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Taxon: ''Antarctoneptunea'' (Genus)
Austrosiphonidae Monotypic gastropod genera {{Buccinidae-stub