Aesopus | |
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Holotype of Aesopus guyanensis (at MNHN, Paris) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Gastropoda |
Subclass: | Caenogastropoda |
Order: | Neogastropoda |
Superfamily: | Buccinoidea |
Family: | Columbellidae |
Genus: | Aesopus Gould, 1860 |
Type species | |
Aesopus japonicus Gould, 1860 | |
Species | |
See text | |
Synonyms [1] | |
Aesopus (Lavesopus)Iredale, 1929· accepted, alternate representation Contents |
Aesopus is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Columbellidae, the dove snails. [1]
(Original description in Latin) The animal is white with a sole that is emarginate anteriorly and obtuse posteriorly, featuring a flabelliform horny cover. It has a small head with external medial eyes and a wide, very short siphon.
The shell is fusiform and humpbacked, with a widely truncated anterior. The lunate aperture has its posterior corner filled with callus. The columella is simple and vitreous, while the suture near the aperture is abnormally arched.
The backward angle and downward curvature of the body whorl are quite peculiar. The form and appearance of the shell, along with the structure of the animal, suggest that it occupies an intermediate position between the genera Mitra and Columbella. [2]
Species within the genus Aesopus include:
Marginella is a very large genus of small tropical and temperate sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the subfamily Marginellinae of the family Marginellidae, the margin snails. It is a type of genus family.
Crassispira is a genus of small predatory sea snails with narrow, high-spired shells, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Pseudomelatomidae. They first appeared in the fossil record approximately 48.6 million years ago during the Eocene epoch, and still exist in the present day.
Ischnochiton is a genus of polyplacophoran mollusc.
Homalopoma, common name the dwarf turbans, is a genus of mostly very small sea snails with a calcareous operculum, marine gastropoda molluscs in the subfamily Colloniinae of the family Colloniidae.
Cylichna is a genus of sea snails or bubble snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Cylichnidae, the "chalice bubble snails".
Mitrella is a genus of small sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Columbellidae, the dove shells or dove snails.
Pyrene is a genus of small sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Columbellidae.
Liotia is a genus of very small sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Liotiidae.
Drillia is a genus of small sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Drilliidae.
Daphnella is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Raphitomidae.
Mangelia is a large genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Mangeliidae.
Siphonalia is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the subfamily Siphonaliinae of the family Buccinidae, the true whelks.
Anachis is a large genus of sea snails in the family Columbellidae, the dove snails.
Nitidella is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Columbellidae, the dove snails.
Leptothyra is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Colloniidae.
Minolia is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Solariellidae.
Austromitra is a genus of sea snails in the family Costellariidae. They are small carnivorous marine gastropod mollusks, most of which are less than 15 mm in length. They live on hard substrates, intertidally and to a depth of at least 1000 m. The genus is found in southern Africa, southern Australia, New Caledonia, and New Zealand.
Guraleus is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Mangeliidae.
Cythara is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Mangeliidae.
Semele is a genus of molluscs of the family Semelidae described in 1817 by Heinrich Christian Friedrich Schumacher.