''Lophopleurella capensis'' 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 ...

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 ...

, a

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 ...

in the family

Oxynoidae Oxynoidae is a family of sea snails, bubble snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Oxynooidea, an opisthobranch group. This family has no subfamilies. Genera The following three genera or four are included in the family Oxyno ...

. ''Lophopleurella capensis'' is the only species in the genus ''Lophopleurella''. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

"''capensis''" is from the

Latin language Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

, meaning "of the Cape", i.e. from the

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope ( af, Provinsie Kaap die Goeie Hoop), commonly referred to as the Cape Province ( af, Kaapprovinsie) and colloquially as The Cape ( af, Die Kaap), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequen ...

Distribution

The type locality for this species is

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

.Jensen K. R. (November 2007)
"Biogeography of the Sacoglossa (Mollusca, Opisthobranchia)"
. ''

Bonner zoologische Beiträge The ''Bonn Zoological Bulletin'' (''BzB''), formerly ''Bonner zoologische Beiträge'', is a peer reviewed open access journal dealing with zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not ...

'' 55(2006)(3-4): 255–281.

Description

This species was originally described under name ''Lobiger'' (''Lophopleura'') ''capensis'' by German malacologist Johannes Thiele in 1912 as a result of the

Gauss Expedition The ''Gauss'' expedition of 1901–1903 (also known as the ''Deutsche Südpolar-Expedition 1901–1903)'' was the first German expedition to Antarctica. It was led by geologist Erich von Drygalski in the ship , named after the mathematician and p ...

(1901–1903), that was the first German expedition to

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

. Johannes Thiele described it very briefly stating, that it "has wing-shaped attachments on sides of the body and very small wing on its shell". German malacologist

Adolf Michael Zilch Adolf (also spelt Adolph or Adolphe, Adolfo and when Latinised Adolphus) is a given name used in German-speaking countries, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Flanders, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Latin America and to a lesser extent in vari ...

established a new genus ''Lophopleurella'' Zilch, 1956 for this species, because the name '' Lophopleura'' Ragonot, 1891Ragonot (1891). ''Ann. Soc. Ent. France'' (6)10: 506. had already been occupied and used for a genus of

lepidopterans Lepidoptera ( ) is an order of insects that includes butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 families and 46 superfamilies, 10 percent of the total described specie ...

from family

Pyralidae The Pyralidae, commonly called pyralid moths, snout moths or grass moths, are a family of Lepidoptera in the ditrysian superfamily Pyraloidea. In many (particularly older) classifications, the grass moths (Crambidae) are included in the Pyrali ...

. Zilch only created the new generic name without a review of the genus.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6678501 Oxynoidae Gastropods described in 1912