| Mesoneura | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Subclass: | Heterobranchia |
| Infraclass: | Mesoneura Brenzinger et al., 2021 |
| Superfamilies [1] | |
Mesoneura is an infraclass of gastropods in the subclass Heterobranchia. [1]
They are the sister group to Euthyneura, and show intermediate characteristics between lower heterobranchs and euthyneurans.
Four families are included in Mesoneura: Tjaernoeiidae, a family of minute deep-sea snails with coiled shells, Parvaplustridae, a family of deep-sea snails with bubble-like shells, Murchisonellidae, one of the most ancient families of snails, and Rhodopidae, a family of worm-like sea slugs.
Molecular clock analysis suggests that Mesoneura diverged from Euthyneura approximately 359 million years ago, with a 95% confidence interval of 406–307 million years ago. The earliest fossil murchisonellids are known from rocks dated to between 350 and 260 million years ago. [2]