''Polemicella'' 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 very small

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, pyramidellid

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 or

micromollusk A micromollusk is a shelled mollusk which is extremely small, even at full adult size. The word is usually, but not exclusively, applied to marine mollusks, although in addition, numerous species of land snails and freshwater mollusks also ...

s in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Odostomiidae Odostomiinae, ''Odostomia'' snails and their allies, is a taxonomic subfamily of minute parasitic sea snails. These are marine heterobranch gastropod mollusks, or micromollusks, in the family Pyramidellidae. Taxonomy The subfamily Odostomiinae h ...

.Bouchet, P. (2017). Polemicella. In: MolluscaBase (2017). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=571801 on 2017-09-10

Nomenclature

The name ''Polemicella'' is not available from Saurin (Annales de la Faculté des Sciences de Saïgon, (1959): 242), who did not explicitly designated a type species ("doubtful OD" according to Schander et al.)

Shell description

The original description by Laseron (1959) (in French) states that the genus was introduced for forms of the near ''Pyrgulina polemica'': short shell with graduated, streamlined or angled whorls on the periphery. It is sculpted with axial ribs and with a single spiral on periphery. There is sometimes a spiral towards the summit of the whorls. ''Pyrgulina mellvilli'' is also a representative typical of this genus.

Life history

Nothing is known about the biology of the members of this genus. As is true of most members of the

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 ...

'' sensu lato'', they are most likely to be

ectoparasite 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 ...

Species

Species within the genus ''Polemicella'' include: * '' Polemicella aartseni'' Robba, Di Geronimo, Chaimanee, Negri & Sanfilippo, 2003 * '' Polemicella dautzenbergi'' (Melvill, 1910) * '' Polemicella piscatorum'' Saurin, 1959 * '' Polemicella polemica'' (Melvill, 1910) (type species) (as ''Pyrgulina polemica'') * '' Polemicella saurini'' Robba, Di Geronimo, Chaimanee, Negri & Sanfilippo, 2003

References

* * Schander C., van Aartsen J.J. & Corgan J.C. (1999). ''Families and genera of the Pyramidelloidea (Mollusca: Gastropoda).'' Bollettino Malacologico 34 (9-12): 145–166 page(s): 150 Pyramidellidae Gastropod genera {{Pyramidellidae-stub