''Enteroxenos'' is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...
of very small
parasitic
Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson ha ...
sea snails,
marine
Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean.
Marine or marines may refer to:
Ocean
* Maritime (disambiguation)
* Marine art
* Marine biology
* Marine debris
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* Marine pollution
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* ...
gastropod mollusk
Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is es ...
s in the family
Eulimidae
Eulimidae is a family of very small parasitic sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Vanikoroidea.
Description
These small parasitic snails live on (or in some cases in) the bodies of echinoderms such as sea cucumber ...
.
[Bonnevie, 1902. Gofas, S.; Le Renard, J.; Bouchet, P. (2001). Mollusca, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp. 180-213 (look up in IMIS). Accessed through: ]World Register of Marine Species
The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive list of names of marine organisms.
Content
The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scientific speciali ...
at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=137966 on 2013-01-18.
Description
These small snails have no mouth or
gut
Gut or guts may refer to:
Anatomy
* Abdomen or belly, the region of a vertebrate between the chest and pelvis
* Abdominal obesity or "a gut", a large deposit of belly fat
* Gastrointestinal tract or gut, the system of digestive organs
* Ins ...
, and absorb nutrients through their body wall. These odd animals look much more like worms than snails, but the larval form is a
veliger
A veliger is the planktonic larva of many kinds of sea snails and freshwater snails, as well as most bivalve molluscs (clams) and tusk shells.
Description
The veliger is the characteristic larva of the gastropod, bivalve and scaphopod ...
, which is characteristic of mollusks.
Species
Species within this genus include the following:
* ''
Enteroxenos bouvieri''
(Risbec, 1953)
* ''
Enteroxenos muelleri''
(Semper, 1868)
* ''
Enteroxenos oestergreni''
Bonnevie, 1902
* ''
Enteroxenos parastichopoli'' (
Tikasingh, 1961)
;Species brought into synonymy:
* ''Enteroxenos ostergreni''
(Bonnevie, 1902): synonym of ''Enteroxenos oestergreni''
(Bonnevie, 1902)
Reproduction
The female is significantly larger than the male and may grow up to in length. The females become hosts to the smaller males, which then fertilise their eggs.
References
External links
First page of a 1964 paper in Transactions of American Microscopical Society about a species in this genusThe original 1902 paper (in German) describing the speciesNomenclator Zoologicus info on the genusTo World Register of Marine Species
Eulimidae
Gastropod genera
{{Eulimidae-stub