| Gaza | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Various views of shells of Gaza superba with the operculum visible in place | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Subclass: | Vetigastropoda |
| Order: | Trochida |
| Superfamily: | Trochoidea |
| Family: | Margaritidae |
| Genus: | Gaza Watson, 1879 [1] |
| Type species | |
| Gaza daedala R. B. Watson, 1879 | |
| Synonyms | |
Gaza (Callogaza)Dall, 1881 | |
Gaza is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Margaritidae. [2]
An examination of the soft parts of a species of the genus Gaza, by Dall [3] showed the operculum to be very thin, light brown, and with about seven whorls.
The animal was of a whitish color without any spots or markings, and with very large black eyes set on a good-sized peduncle closely adjacent to and behind the tentacles. There is a single narrow gill in the usual position. The tentacles are long, large, and rather slender. The foot is short, broad, and bluntly rounded in front, behind almost truncate. In fact the contracted specimen looked almost as if there was a broad posterior indentation in the middle line. The muzzle is long, narrow, subcylindrical above and transversely expanded at its distal end, which is semi-lunar with a densely papillose surface and fringed edges. This expansion is nearly three times as wide as the stem of the muzzle. The epipodium (the lateral grooves between foot and mantle) has a large lobe behind the eye peduncle but is not connected with it. Behind the lobe is one long process and then a shorter one. The frill behind is merely puckered, but from under the borders of the operculum on each side protrude three good-sized processes. Behind the opercular lobe the epipodium terminates in a prominent point, concave and papillose on its upper surface. There are no frontal lobes between the tentacula. The epipodial point extends some distance behind the posterior end of the foot. The jaw is like that of Calliostoma in shape. It is composed of brown four-sided translucent prismatic rodlets which give under the microscope a reticular marking of diamond-shaped spots to the surface of the jaw. The two sides are not united in the middle line. The radula closely resembles that of Lunella versicolor Gmelin as figured by Troschel (Geb. der Schnecken, ii, pi. 20, fig. 7), except that the bases of the rhachidian and lateral teeth are subcircular, and on a few of the scythe-shaped cusps of the numerous uncini (= the small teeth-like or hook-like structures on the radula) are a few denticles. There are five lateral teeth, and between twenty and thirty uncini. (Dall).
The nucleus of Gaza superba is often caducous, and in such specimens the apex is pierced with a circular perforation 1½ mm in diameter, which is continuous with the umbilicus. There does not appear to be any particular difference between the nucleus and the early whorls, its loss would therefore seem to be due merely to its fragility. In none of those in which it remains is there any indication of its being reinforced by a shelly deposit. (Dall)
The species are all deep-sea dwellers, living mostly at depths of 180 m or greater [4]
Species within the genus Gaza include:
Synonyms:
Emarginula is a genus of small keyhole limpets, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Fissurellidae.
Pleurotomariidae, common name the "slit snails", is a family of large marine gastropods in the superfamily Pleurotomarioidea of the subclass Vetigastropoda. This family is a very ancient lineage; there were numerous species in the geological past. The genus includes several hundred fossil forms, mostly Paleozoic. It is one of the oldest gastropod families, commencing in the Cambrian.
Scaphella is a genus of large sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Volutidae, the volutes.
The Drilliidae are a taxonomic family of small predatory sea snails with high-spired shells. They are classified as marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea.
Columbarium is a genus of deepwater sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Columbariidae, the pagoda shells.
Addisonia is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Addisoniidae.
Pseudococculina is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Pseudococculinidae.
Hemipolygona is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Fasciolariidae, the spindle snails, the tulip snails and their allies.
Calliostoma cinctellum is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Calliostomatidae.
Callogaza watsoni is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Margaritidae.
Gaza compta is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Margaritidae.
Gaza cubana is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Margaritidae.
Gaza fischeri is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Margaritidae.
Gaza superba, common name the superb gaza, is a species of deep sea sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Margaritidae.
Callogaza is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Margaritidae.
Calliostomatinae is a subfamily of gastropods, belonging to the family Calliostomatidae.
Margaritidae is a family of small sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Trochoidea.
Callogaza sericata is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Margaritidae.
Gaza rathbuni, common name Rathbun's gaza, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Margaritidae.
