Protatlanta souleyeti

Protatlanta souleyeti is a species of sea snail, a holoplanktonic marine gastropod mollusk in the family Atlantidae.[3]

Protatlanta souleyeti
Temporal range: Pliocene-Recent[1]
apical view of the shell of Protatlanta souleyeti from the Pliocene of Philippines
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Gastropoda
(unranked):
clade Caenogastropoda
clade Hypsogastropoda
clade Littorinimorpha
Superfamily:
Pterotracheoidea
Family:
Atlantidae
Genus:
Protatlanta
Species:
P. souleyeti
Binomial name
Protatlanta souleyeti
Synonyms

Atlanta souleyeti Smith, 1888

Protatlanta souleyeti is the type species on the genus Protatlanta.[1] It is considered to be the only Recent species on the genus.[1]

The specific name souleyeti is in honor of French malacologist Louis François Auguste Souleyet.

apertural view of protoconch of Protatlanta souleyeti from the Pliocene

Description

The maximum recorded shell length is 2 mm.[4]

Some of the fossil specimens preserve a pinkish colour of the larval shells.[1] The protoconch is naticoid in shape and has approximately 3¼ whorls.[1] Most specimens have two thin spirals above the periphery, visible in apical view, and a third such spiral below the periphery, which separates the base of the protoconch and becomes covered by subsequent whorls.[1] The described ornament can be fairly constant, but some specimens were found in which these three spirals are lacking.[1] Richter (1968, p. 17, fig. 6c) described Recent larval shells from the Gulf of Naples as smooth.[1] For Recent material from near Hawaii, Seapy (1990, p. 114, fig. 4A-D) also stated that the first whorls are smooth.[1] But Batten & Dumont (1976, figs. 39-41) and Richter & Seapy (1999, p. 633, fig. 5A) and Janssen (2007)[1] have described two protoconch morphologies.[1] On the teleoconch whorls, the peripheral belt on which the conchiolin keel was attached is very clear.[1] Growth lines are strongly bent backward on this belt, indicating the presence of a deep sinus on the apertural margin.[1] A very faint spiral striation is visible all over the adult shell surface.[1]

Distribution

The first fossil specimens of Protatlanta souleyeti from Cainozoic has been found from Pliocene in Anda, Pangasinan, Luzon, Philippines in 2001 (published in 2007).[1]

Habitat

Minimum recorded depth is 0 m.[4] Maximum recorded depth is 0 m.[4]

References

This article incorporates CC-BY-3.0 text from the reference [1]

  1. Janssen A. W. (2007). "Holoplanktonic Mollusca (Gastropoda: Pterotracheoidea, Janthinoidea, Thecosomata and Gymnosomata) from the Pliocene of Pangasinan (Luzon, Philippines)". Scripta Geologica. 135. Archived from the original on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 2010-08-20.
  2. Smith E. A. (1888). "Report on the marine Mollusca collected by H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1873-1876". Challenger Reports 72(23): 1-51. page 43.
  3. Protatlanta souleyeti (Smith E.A., 1888). Gofas, S. (2009). Protatlanta souleyeti (Smith E.A., 1888). In: Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S.; Rosenberg, G. (2009) World Marine Mollusca database. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=138840 on 14 August 2010 .
  4. Welch J. J. (2010). "The "Island Rule" and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". PLoS ONE 5(1): e8776. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008776.
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