Lepetelloidea is a
superfamily of
sea snails, small deepwater
limpets,
marine gastropod 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 in the clade
Vetigastropoda
Vetigastropoda is a major taxonomic group of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks that form a very ancient lineage. Taxonomically the Vetigastropoda are sometimes treated as an order, although they are treated as an unranked clade in Bouchet ...
(according to the
taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005). (Previously this superfamily was in the order
Cocculiniformia.)
[WoRMS (2011). Lepetelloidea. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=382160 on 2011-08-13]
Description
Species in this superfamily have undivided shell muscles (except Lepetellidae). They possess secondary
gill
A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...
leaflets or their gills are reduced. Their
radula contains a well-developed rachidian tooth.
The soft body lacks subpallial (i.e. below the
mantle) glands. They have paired
kidney
The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blo ...
s with the right one larger. With the exception of the subfamily Choristellinae, all known lepetelloids are simultaneous hermaphrodites, meaning they possess both male and female reproductive organs at the same time. Species in the subfamily Choristellinae are
gonochoristic
In biology, gonochorism is a sexual system where there are only two sexes and each individual organism is either male or female. The term gonochorism is usually applied in animal species, the vast majority of which are gonochoric.
Gonochorism c ...
, i.e. with distinct males and females). The ciliated
gonoducts (the ducts through which the
gamete
A gamete (; , ultimately ) is a haploid cell that fuses with another haploid cell during fertilization in organisms that reproduce sexually. Gametes are an organism's reproductive cells, also referred to as sex cells. In species that produce ...
s reach the exterior) contain no glands.
[José H. Leal and M. G. Harasewych, Deepest Atlantic Molluscs: Hadal Limpets (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Cocculiniformia) from the Northern Boundary of the Caribbean Plate, Invertebrate Biology, Vol. 118, No. 2 p. 127]
Families
Families within the superfamily Lepetelloidea include:
*
Addisoniidae
*
Bathyphytophilidae
*
Caymanabyssiidae
*
Cocculinellidae
*
Lepetellidae Dall, 1881
** Choristellinae - in the
taxonomy of the Gastropoda according to Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005, the group of species previously known as the family Choristellidae was reranked as
Choristellinae, a subfamily of Lepetellidae.
*
Osteopeltidae
*
Pseudococculinidae
*
Pyropeltidae
Pyropeltidae is a family of gastropods in the clade Vetigastropoda (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005).
This family has no subfamilies.
Habitat
Their habitat includes hydrothermal vent
A hydrothermal ve ...
References
* Haszprunar G & McLean JH 1996. ''Anatomy and systematics of bathyphytophilid limpets (Mollusca, Archeogastropoda) from the northeastern Pacific''. Zool. Scripta 25: 35–49.
External links
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3229847
Vetigastropoda