''Eatoniella pullmitra'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

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 ...

mollusc 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 esti ...

in the family

Eatoniellidae Eatoniellidae, commonly known as eatoniellids, are a taxonomic family of minute sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Cingulopsoidea The Cingulopsoidea is a superfamily of sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the cl ...

. First described by

Winston Ponder Winston Frank Ponder (born 1941) is a noted malacologist born and educated in New Zealand who has named and described many marine and freshwater animals, especially micromolluscs. Education and career Ponder graduated with an MSc, PhD (1968) ...

in 1965, it is endemic to the waters of New Zealand. The species has a preference for living on algae found in the

sublittoral zone The neritic zone (or sublittoral zone) is the relatively shallow part of the ocean above the drop-off of the continental shelf, approximately in depth. From the point of view of marine biology it forms a relatively stable and well-illuminated ...

Description

''Eatoniella pullmitra'' has a smooth, ovate shell with four whorls. The shell is yellowish-white, with a semi-transparent aperture and a white umbilical area. The holotype measured 1.23mm by 0.85mm. The species is similar in appearance to '' Eatoniella atervisceralis'' and ''

Eatoniella dilatata ''Eatoniella'' is a genus of minute sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Eatoniellidae, the eatoniellids. Species Species within the genus ''Eatoniella'' include: * '' Eatoniella afronigra'' Ponder & Worsfold, 1994 * '' Eatonie ...

'', but can be distinguished by its broader shell and larger umbilicus.

Distribution

The species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The holotype was collected by Ponder himself on 4 September 1964, on soft brown algae adjacent to Quarantine Island in the Otago Harbour. The species has a preference for living in the

of the waters of New Zealand, and is found in the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

, Steward Island, the

Chatham Islands The Chatham Islands ( ) (Moriori: ''Rēkohu'', 'Misty Sun'; mi, Wharekauri) are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about east of New Zealand's South Island. They are administered as part of New Zealand. The archipelago consists of about te ...

and the

Bounty Islands The Bounty Islands ( mi, Moutere Hauriri; "Island of angry wind") are a small group of 13 uninhabited granite islets and numerous rocks, with a combined area of , in the South Pacific Ocean. Territorially part of New Zealand, they lie about e ...

. It has also been recorded living in the littoral zone in Otago Harbour.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6783324 Eatoniellidae Gastropods described in 1965 Gastropods of New Zealand Endemic fauna of New Zealand Endemic molluscs of New Zealand Molluscs of the Pacific Ocean Taxa named by Winston Ponder