''Antimargarita smithiana'' 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

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 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 ...

Margaritidae Margaritidae is a family of small sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Trochoidea (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005).Bouchet, P. (2012). Margaritidae. Accessed through: World Register ...

Description

Distribution

This marine species occurs off

East Antarctica East Antarctica, also called Greater Antarctica, constitutes the majority (two-thirds) of the Antarctic continent, lying on the Indian Ocean side of the continent, separated from West Antarctica by the Transantarctic Mountains. It lies almost ...

and in the

Bellinghausen Sea The Bellingshausen Sea is an area along the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula between 57°18'W and 102°20'W, west of Alexander Island, east of Cape Flying Fish on Thurston Island, and south of Peter I Island (there the southern ''Vostokkyst ...

at depths between 30 m and 1117 m.

References

* Aldea C., Zelaya D.G. & Troncoso J.S. (2009) ''Two new trochids of the genus Antimargarita (Gastropoda: Vetigastropoda: Trochidae) from the Bellingshausen Sea and South Shetland Islands, Antarctica''. Polar Biology 32:417–426 * Engl W. (2012) ''Shells of Antarctica''. Hackenheim: Conchbooks. 402 pp

External links

Aldea & Troncoso, ''Shelled Molluscs from West Antarctica''; Iberus : Revista de la Sociedad Española de Malacología v. 26 (2008)
smithiana Gastropods described in 1916 {{Margaritidae-stub