''Lusitanops gigasei'' is an extinct species of

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

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 in the family

Raphitomidae Raphitomidae is a family of small to medium-sized sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea.Bouchet P. & Rocroi J.-P. (Ed.) (2005). "Classification and nomenclator of gastropod families". ''Malacologia'' 47(1-2). . 39 ...

.''Lusitanops gigasei'': image
/ref> Its specific name derives from the paleontologist Paul Gigase, the collector of the fossil specimen designated as the holotype.

Description

The shape and size of ''Lusitanops gigasei'' suggests it was a mobile and active predator, capable of hunting and capturing other small marine invertebrates. The pointed spire of the shell may have helped it to penetrate sand and sediment to access prey buried in the seafloor. The shell's prominent apex may have been an adaptation providing extra strength and structural support. Its shell was thick and sturdy, suggesting that it may have been adapted to living in environments with strong

water current A current in a fluid is the magnitude and direction of flow within that fluid, such as a liquid or a gas. Types of fluid currents include: * Air current * Boundary current * Current (stream), a current in a river or stream * Longshore current * Oc ...

s and turbulence. It could reach a length of 6.1 mm, and a diameter of 1.9 mm. ''L. gigasei'' may be a species intermediate between ''

Lusitanops ''Lusitanops'' is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Raphitomidae. Description This genus is characterized by a reticulated sculpture, a large, inflated body whorl, a short siphonal canal The siphonal canal i ...

'' and ''

Xanthodaphne ''Xanthodaphne'' is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Raphitomidae. Species Species within the genus ''Xanthodaphne'' include: * '' Xanthodaphne agonia'' (Dall, 1890) * '' Xanthodaphne alessandropaglii'' Nappo & Pagl ...

'', as it had a combination of characteristics of these two

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

. The

extant Extant is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Extant taxon, a taxon which is not extinct, ...

species it most closely resembles is '' Lusitanops expansus''.

Distribution

Fossils of the species were found in Pliocene strata at Kallo, Belgium; age range: 6 to 2.588 Ma. The holotype ''L. gigasei'' specimen was collected from the Oorderen Member, a stratigraphic deposition in shallow water. Extant ''Lusitanops'' species are found in very deep water of , apart from the rarely encountered ''L. expansus'', whose specimens have been found at .

References

gigasei Gastropods described in 1998 {{paleo-Raphitomidae-stub