Ammonicera rota

Ammonicera rota
Shell of Ammonicera rota (specimen at the Natural History Museum Rotterdam)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Family:	Omalogyridae
Genus:	Ammonicera
Species:	A. rota
Binomial name
Ammonicera rota (Forbes & Hanley, 1850)
Synonyms
Ammonicerina paucicostataOG Costa, 1861 (dubious synonym) Ammonicerina pulchellaOG Costa, 1861 Ammonicerina rota(Forbes & Hanley, 1850) Homalogyra rota(Forbes & Hanley, 1850) Homalogyra rotataLocard, 1886 Omalogyra (Ammonicera) rota(Forbes & Hanley, 1850) Skenea rotaForbes & Hanley, 1850(original combination) Skenea tricarinataW. Webster, 1856 junior subjective synonym

Ammonicera rota is a species of minute sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Omalogyridae. ^[1]

Description

The size of the shell attains 0.7 mm.

(Original description) The shell is discoid, flattened on both sides but slightly sunken in the center, with a pearly semi-transparent white or very pale wax-like color. Both the upper and lower surfaces are adorned with numerous abruptly projecting rounded ribs. These ribs widen as they radiate from the well-defined sutural line but do not fully extend to the edges of the whorls. The spaces between the ribs are nearly equal in width and may either be smooth or feature a single elevated radiating line. Occasionally, a faint spiral groove appears between the ribs near their termini but does not traverse them.

The shell consists of only 2½ whorls, which are convex, well-defined, and gradually increase in size from a smooth, relatively large apex. The body whorl is not perfectly rounded but appears slightly subangulated above and below, possibly due to the reduced convexity of the periphery.

The aperture, raised slightly above the upper surface of the shell, is small and nearly circular, with only a minor intrusion from the preceding whorl. The animal, dried and not observed in its living state, is wax-colored. ^[2]

Distribution

This species occurs in the Atlantic Ocean; also off the coastal regions of West Africa; in the Mediterranean Sea.

References

1. Ammonicera rota (Forbes & Hanley, 1850) . 21 January 2025. Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species .
2. Forbes, E.; Hanley, S.C.T. (1848–1853). A history of British Mollusca and their shells (vol. 3 ed.). London: van Voorst. pp. 160–161. Retrieved 21 January 2025. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .

• Backeljau, T., De Meyer, M., Janssens, L., Proesmans, R., & Vader, W.J.M. (1984). "Ammonicerarota in Norway (Mollusca, Gastropoda: Omalogyridae)". FaunaNorvegica. 5: 6–8.

External links

• Sartori, A.F. & Bieler, R. (2014). "Three new species of Ammonicera from the Eastern Pacific coast of North America, with redescriptions and comments on other species of Omalogyridae (Gastropoda, Heterobranchia)". Zootaxa. 38 (72 (1)): 8–10. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3872.1.1. PMID   25544067 . Retrieved 21 January 2025.
• Costa, OG (1861). Mediterranean microdoride; or, Description of the little known or completely unknown living minute and mycoscropic organisms of the Mediterranean, by Professor OG Costa. First volume. With thirteen plates. Naples: Stamperia dell'Iride.
• Locard, A. (1886). Prodrome de malacologie française. Catalog général des mollusques vivants de France. Mollusques marins. Paris: Baillière. p. 300.
• Webster, W. (1856). "On a new British species of Skenea". Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 2 (18): 156–157.
• Oliver, J.D.; Rolán, E. (2015). "The genus Ammonicera (Heterobranchia, Omalogyridae) in the Eastern Atlantic. 1: the species of the Iberian Peninsula". Iberus. 33 (1): 53–57.
• Lozouet P. & Maestrati P. (1982). "New species of molluscs from the Oligocène (Stampien) for the bass of Paris and Aquitaine". Archive for Moluskenkunde. 112 (1–6): 176.