''Menesthella'' 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 ...

of very small

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, pyramidellid

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, or

micromollusk A micromollusc is a shelled mollusc which is extremely small, even at full adult size. The word is usually, but not exclusively, applied to marine molluscs, although in addition, numerous species of land snails and freshwater molluscs also ...

s. This genus is currently placed in the subfamily Chrysallidinae of the

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 ...

Odostomiidae. It was originally described as a subgenus of Menestho Möller, 1842 but was erected to genus status by Schander et al. 1999.

Shell description

The shell is small, broadly conical and imperforate. The surface is marked by strong, equally spaced spiral chords and by fine axial growth-lines seen between the sutures. The periphery of the last whorl is sulcate and the base is smooth. The columella fold (tooth) is strong.

Life habits

Little is known about the biology of the members of this genus. As is true of most members of the

Pyramidellidae Pyramidellidae, common name the pyram family, or pyramid shells, is a voluminous taxonomic family of mostly small and minute ectoparasitic sea snails, marine heterobranch gastropod molluscs. The great majority of species of pyrams are micromol ...

sensu lato ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular co ...

'', they are most likely to be

ectoparasite Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted str ...

Species

Species within the genus ''Menesthella'' include: * ''Menesthella tarukiensis'' (Nomura, 1939) (Type species) (as ''Menestho tarukiensis'') * ...

References

* Pyramidellidae {{Pyramidellidae-stub de:Pyramidelloidea