''Pontiothauma'' 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
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
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 ...
Raphitomidae
Raphitomidae is a Family (biology), family of small to medium-sized sea snails, marine (ocean), marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea.Bouchet P. & Rocroi J.-P. (Ed.) (2005). "Classification and nomenclator of gastropod families" ...
.
Description
The fusiform shell is not umbilicate, anteriorly rostrate and obliquely folded, It is spirally furrowed by lirae. The
aperture
In optics, the aperture of an optical system (including a system consisting of a single lens) is the hole or opening that primarily limits light propagated through the system. More specifically, the entrance pupil as the front side image o ...
ends in a short
siphonal canal
The siphonal canal is an anatomical feature of the shells of certain groups of sea snails within the clade Neogastropoda. Some sea marine gastropods have a soft tubular anterior extension of the mantle called a siphon through which water i ...
. The simple
columella
Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (, Arabic: ) was a prominent Roman writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire.
His in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture and ancient Roman cuisin ...
is not folded. The outer
lip
The lips are a horizontal pair of soft appendages attached to the jaws and are the most visible part of the mouth of many animals, including humans. Mammal lips are soft, movable and serve to facilitate the ingestion of food (e.g. sucklin ...
is thin, posteriorly wide but not deeply sinuate. The shell lacks an
operculum.
The enormously expanded rostrum, and the absence of eyes, radula, and operculum, at once separate this genus from any which it approaches in shell-character.
Species
Species within the genus ''Pontiothauma'' include:
* ''
Pontiothauma abyssicola''
Smith E. A., 1895
* ''
Pontiothauma minus''
Smith E. A., 1906
* ''
Pontiothauma mirabile''
Smith E. A., 1895
* ''
Pontiothauma pacei''
Smith E. A., 1906
;Species brought into synonymy:
* ''Pontiothauma ergata''
Hedley, 1916: synonym of ''
Belaturricula ergata''
(Hedley, 1916)
* ''Pontiothauma fusiforme''
Habe, 1962: synonym of ''
Spergo fusiformis''
(Habe, 1962) (original combination)
* ''Pontiothauma hedleyi''
Dell, 1990: synonym of ''
Aforia hedleyi
''Aforia hedleyi'' is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cochlespiridae
Cochlespiridae is a taxonomic family of predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea.
This family is not well ...
''
(Dell, 1990)
* ''Pontiothauma viridis''
(Okutani, 1966):
synonym of ''
Belomitra viridis''
(Okutani, 1966)
References
* Pace, S. "On the Anatomy of the Prosobranch Genus Pontiothauma, EA Smith." Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 28.186 (1903): 455-462.
* Smith, Edgar A. "I.—Natural history notes from HM Indian marine survey steamer ‘Investigator,’commander CF Oldham, RN—Series II., No. 19. Report upon the Mollusca dredged in the bay of Bengal and the Arabian sea during the season 1893–94." Journal of Natural History 16.91 (1895): 1-19.
* Smith, Edgar A. "XXV.—Natural history notes form RIMS ‘Investigator.’—Series III., No. 10. On Mollusca from the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea." Journal of Natural History 18.105 (1906): 157-175.
* Powell, A. W. B. "Mollusca of Antarctic and Subantarctic seas." Biogeography and ecology in Antarctica. Springer, Dordrecht, 1965. 333-380.
External links
*
Worldwide Mollusc Species Data Base: Raphitomidae Bouchet, P.; Kantor, Y. I.; Sysoev, A.; Puillandre, N. (2011). A new operational classification of the Conoidea (Gastropoda). Journal of Molluscan Studies. 77(3): 273-308.Kantor, Yuri I., and John D. Taylor. "Foregut anatomy and relationships of raphitomine gastropods (Gastropoda: Conoidea: Raphitominae)." Bollettino Malacologico 38 (2003): 83-110.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3719523
Raphitomidae
Gastropod genera