Atlanta selvagensis

Atlanta selvagensis
Atlanta selvagensis (specimen at the Natural History Museum Rotterdam)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Littorinimorpha
Family:	Atlantidae
Genus:	Atlanta
Species:	A. selvagensis
Binomial name
Atlanta selvagensis de Vera & Seapy, 2006
Synonyms
† Atlanta cordiformisGabb, 1873

Atlanta selvagensis is a species of sea snail, a holoplanktonic marine gastropod mollusk in the family Atlantidae. ^[1]

Description

(Described as † Atlanta cordiformis) The shell is minute and compressed, featuring a sharply angled dorsal surface and a thin, elevated keel. The apex is depressed and does not project above the height of the body whorl. There are three whorls in total, with one and a half of them visible within the broad, flat umbilicus.

The aperture is distinctly heart-shaped, and the dorsal fissure is deep. The margins of the aperture arch forward in the center, before retreating backward in a regular curve toward the outer edge. ^[2]

The "heart-shaped" aperture is a very specific diagnostic trait. As the apex is depressed and does not rise above the body whorl, this shell would appear very flat or even slightly sunken when viewed from the side, a common feature in discoid (disc-shaped) pelagic snails.

Distribution

This marine species was found off the Selvagens Islands, an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean.

References

1. Atlanta selvagensis de Vera & Seapy, 2006 . Gofas, S. (2009). Atlanta selvagensis de Vera & Seapy, 2006. In: Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S.; Rosenberg, G. World Marine Mollusca database. Accessed through the World Register of Marine Species at http://marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=244553 on 14 August 2010 .
2. Gabb, W.M. (1873). "On the topography and geology of Santo Domingo". Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. New Series. 15 (1): 201. Retrieved 28 December 2025. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .

• De Vera, A. & Seapy, R.R. (2006). Atlanta selvagensis, a new species of heteropod mollusc fron the Northeastern Atlantic Ocean: (Gastropoda: Carinarioidea). Vieraea. 34: 45-54.
• Janssen, A.W. (2012). Late Quaternary to Recent holoplanktonic Mollusca (Gastropoda) from bottom samples of the eastern Mediterranean Sea: systematics, morphology. Bollettino Malacologico. 48 (suplemento 9): 1-105.