''Pupatonia gracilispira'' 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

Baden Powell Baden-Powell () is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: Baden-Powell * The Rev. Prof. Baden Powell (mathematician) (1796–1860), mathematician, clergyman and liberal theologian. By his first marriage father of: :* Baden Henry Powell ...

in 1933 as ''Estea gracilispira'', it is endemic to the waters of New Zealand.

Description

Powell described the species as follows: ''Pupatonia gracilispira'' measures 1.1mm, by 0.525mm. The species is similar in appearance to '' Pupatonia mimitula'', but differs by having a narrower spire, and by having a smooth and polished texture.

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 and four paratypes were collected by either Powell himself or by C. A. Fleming in February 1933, from a depth of 18 metres off Owenga Beach in 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 ...

. The species has almost exclusively been identified in the Chatham Islands, however has also been identified at

Waipapa Point Waipapa Point is a rocky promontory on the south coast of Foveaux Strait, the South Island of New Zealand. It is located southeast of the mouth of the Mataura River, at the extreme southwestern end of the area known as the Catlins The C ...

in the south of the

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 ...

, and the Auckland Islands.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6783458 Eatoniellidae Fauna of the Chatham Islands Gastropods described in 1933 Gastropods of New Zealand Endemic fauna of New Zealand Endemic molluscs of New Zealand Molluscs of the Pacific Ocean Taxa named by Arthur William Baden Powell