''Agatha'' is a small
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of minute
sea snail
Sea snail is a common name for slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguished from snails primarily by the ...
s or
marine
Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean.
Marine or marines may refer to:
Ocean
* Maritime (disambiguation)
* Marine art
* Marine biology
* Marine debris
* Marine habitats
* Marine life
* Marine pollution
Military
* ...
gastropod
The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda ().
This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...
mollusk
Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...
s within the subfamily
Syrnolinae
Syrnolininae is a subfamily of minute parasitic sea snails, marine heterobranch gastropod molluscs in the family Pyramidellidae, the pyrams and their allies.
Taxonomy
According to the taxonomy of Ponder & Lindberg (1997), this was one of elev ...
, which is a part of the family
Pyramidellidae
Pyramidellidae, common name the pyram family, or pyramid shells, is a voluminous taxonomic family of mostly small and minute ectoparasitic sea snails, marine heterobranch gastropod molluscs. The great majority of species of pyrams are micromol ...
.
[Rosenberg, G. (2012). Agatha A. Adams, 1860. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=599126 on 2012-08-27]
They have
bilateral symmetry
Symmetry in biology refers to the symmetry observed in organisms, including plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria. External symmetry can be easily seen by just looking at an organism. For example, take the face of a human being which has a pla ...
and only have
endoderm
Endoderm is the innermost of the three primary germ layers in the very early embryo. The other two layers are the ectoderm (outside layer) and mesoderm (middle layer). Cells migrating inward along the archenteron form the inner layer of the gast ...
and
ectoderm
The ectoderm is one of the three primary germ layers formed in early embryonic development. It is the outermost layer, and is superficial to the mesoderm (the middle layer) and endoderm (the innermost layer). It emerges and originates from t ...
tissues.
The species of this genus are
ectoparasites
Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...
on other
invertebrates
Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...
.
Distribution
* Marine
Species
* † ''
Agatha alexanderi''
(Marwick, 1929)
* ''
Agatha amabilis''
Nomura, 1936
* ''
Agatha australis''
(Angas, 1871)
* ''
Agatha brevis''
Yokoyama, 1922
* ''
Agatha filia''
(Melvill, 1893)
* ''
Agatha georgiana''
(Hutton, 1885)
* ''
Agatha laevis''
(Angas, 1867)
* ''
Agatha obesa''
Peñas & Rolán, 2016
* † ''
Agatha otaioensis''
Laws, 1940
* ''
Agatha pacei''
(Dautzenberg & Fischer, 1906)
* † ''
Agatha pittensis''
(Marwick, 1928)
* ''
Agatha placida''
Nomura, 1936
* ''
Agatha vestalis''
Melvill, 1910
* ''
Agatha virgo''
Weisbord, 1962
;Species brought into synonymy:
* ''Agatha angasi''
(Tryon, 1886): synonym of ''
Syrnola angasi''
(Tryon, 1886)
* ''Agatha infrequens''
Nomura, 1937: synonym of ''
Odostomia infrequens''
(Nomura, 1937)
* ''Agatha lepidula''
Habe, 1961: synonym of ''
Tibersyrnola lepidula''
(Habe, 1961)
* ''Agatha simplex''
(Angas, 1871): synonym of ''
Megastomia simplex''
(Angas, 1871)
References
Spencer H.G., Willan R.C., Marshall B.A. & Murray T.J. (2011) ''Checklist of the Recent Mollusca Recorded from the New Zealand Exclusive Economic Zone''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agatha (Gastropod)
Pyramidellidae