Diacria trispinosa | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Gastropoda |
Subclass: | Heterobranchia |
Clade: | Euopisthobranchia |
Order: | Pteropoda |
Family: | Cavoliniidae |
Genus: | Diacria |
Species: | D. trispinosa |
Binomial name | |
Diacria trispinosa (Blainville, 1821) | |
Diacria trispinosa is a holoplanktonic species of gastropods belonging to the family Cavoliniidae. [1] [2] It is classified as a mesoplankton. It is a pteropod.
The species has cosmopolitan distribution. [1]
D. trispinosa is a deepwater zooplankton. Shell lengths range from 4–6 mm, occasionally reaching 7mm. [3]
All members of the genus Diacria share some parts of their ontogeny. They hatch with a protoconch, and develop a second one in their first days. The teleoconch, or whorls of the shell develop after about a week. As the larva grows into its adult stage it moves into the teleoconch, then a membrane is formed between the two and the protoconch is shed. Then the spots begin to develop: first light brown and red, then they spread and become darker. [4]
In D. trispinosa specifically, each spot in the center splits into two lateral spots as it develops, then the spots spread outwards. [4] Adult individuals of D. trispinosa have thicker shells than juveniles. [5]
D. trispinosa has been recorded frequently off the coasts of Australia and Southeast Asia, as well as the North American east coast in the Acadian and Virginian subprovinces. [1] [6] Fossils of D. trispinosa have been found in the Hopegate Formation in Jamaica from as early as the Upper Pliocene. Remains have been found from as early as the Cretaceous period, [2] although their shells are often not fully preserved due to their proclivity to dissolve in aragonite. [3]
D. trispinosa likely has a range of 30°N to 30°S, narrower than some other members of its genus. [4] They exhibit a vertical migration pattern, and are found in shallower waters during the night than during the day. This is an opposition to a similar species, D. major , which for a time was thought to be a subspecies or variety of D. trispinoa. [5]
Sea butterflies, scientific name Thecosomata, are a taxonomic suborder of small pelagic swimming sea snails. They are holoplanktonic opisthobranch gastropod mollusks. Most Thecosomata have some form of calcified shell, although it is often very light and / or transparent.
Sea angels are a large group of small free-swimming sea slugs, not to be confused with Cnidarians, classified into six different families. They are pelagic opisthobranchs in the clade Gymnosomata within the larger mollusc clade Heterobranchia. Sea angels were previously referred to as a type of pteropod.
The Notobranchaeidae, or "naked sea butterflies", are a taxonomic family of floating sea slugs, specifically under the subclass Opistobranchia, also called "sea angels".
Pteropoda are specialized free-swimming pelagic sea snails and sea slugs, marine opisthobranch gastropods. Most live in the top 10 m of the ocean and are less than 1 cm long. The monophyly of Pteropoda is the subject of a lengthy debate; they have even been considered as paraphyletic with respect to cephalopods. Current consensus, guided by molecular studies, leans towards interpreting the group as monophyletic.
A whorl is a single, complete 360° revolution or turn in the spiral or whorled growth of a mollusc shell. A spiral configuration of the shell is found in numerous gastropods, but it is also found in shelled cephalopods including Nautilus, Spirula and the large extinct subclass of cephalopods known as the ammonites.
A spire is a part of the coiled shell of molluscs. The spire consists of all of the whorls except for the body whorl. Each spire whorl represents a rotation of 360°. A spire is part of the shell of a snail, a gastropod mollusc, a gastropod shell, and also the whorls of the shell in ammonites, which are fossil shelled cephalopods.
Haliotis asinina, common name the ass's-ear abalone, is a fairly large species of sea snail, a tropical gastropod mollusk in the family Haliotidae, the abalones, also known as ormers or pāua. Both the common name and the scientific name are based on the shape of the shell, which is long, narrow and curved, resembling the shape of a donkey's ear.
The family Cavoliniidae is a taxonomic group of small floating sea snails, pelagic marine opisthobranch gastropod mollusks.
Conopleura striata is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Drilliidae.
Teretia teres is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Raphitomidae.
Drillia caffra is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Drilliidae.
Atlanta brunnea is a species of sea snail, a holoplanktonic marine gastropod mollusk in the family Atlantidae.
Atlanta lesueurii is a species of sea snail, a holoplanktonic marine gastropod mollusk in the family Atlantidae.
Oxygyrus keraudrenii is a species of sea snail, a holoplanktonic marine gastropod mollusk in the family Atlantidae.
Protatlanta souleyeti is a species of sea snail, a holoplanktonic marine gastropod mollusk in the family Atlantidae.
Protatlanta rotundata is an extinct species of sea snail, a holoplanktonic marine gastropod mollusk in the family Atlantidae.
Limacina helicina is a species of small swimming planktonic sea snail in the family Limacinidae, which belong to the group commonly known as sea butterflies (Thecosomata).
Halystina umberlee is a species of very small deep-water sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Seguenziidae.
Miraclathurella vittata is an extinct Pliocene species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Pseudomelatomidae, the turrids and allies. The species was discovered by Wendell Woodring in 1928.
Diacria is a genus of gastropods belonging to the family Cavoliniidae.