Spiralinella
Encyclopedia
Spiralinella is a genus
of very small sea snail
s, pyramidellid
gastropod mollusks, or micromollusk
s. This genus is currently placed in the subfamily Chrysallidinae
of the family
Odostomiidae. Both this genus and its type species have had a very complicated synomymy. The status of the generic name Spiralinella in contrast to the names Partulida and Spiralina was clarified by Corgan (1973), and the nomenclatorical problems around the type species was discussed by van Aartsen & Gianuzzi-Savelli (1991).
sensu lato, they are most likely to be ectoparasites.
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of very small sea snail
Snail
Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
s, pyramidellid
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 or micromolluscs....
gastropod mollusks, or micromollusk
Micromollusk
A micromollusk is a descriptive term for 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 reach adult size at very small...
s. This genus is currently placed in the subfamily Chrysallidinae
Chrysallidinae
Chrysallidinae is a taxonomic group of very small sea snails in the family Pyramidellidae.- Taxonomy :Chrysallidinae has been one of eleven recognized subfamilies of the gastropod family Pyramidellidae...
of the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Odostomiidae. Both this genus and its type species have had a very complicated synomymy. The status of the generic name Spiralinella in contrast to the names Partulida and Spiralina was clarified by Corgan (1973), and the nomenclatorical problems around the type species was discussed by van Aartsen & Gianuzzi-Savelli (1991).
Life habits
Little is known about the biology of the members of this genus. As is true of most members of the PyramidellidaePyramidellidae
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 or micromolluscs....
sensu lato, they are most likely to be ectoparasites.
Species
Species within the genus Menestho include:- Spiralinella spiralis (Montagu, 1803) (Type species) (as Turbo spiralis) valid name is Spiralinella pellucida (Dillwyn, 1817)
