Vetigastropoda

Vetigastropoda
Temporal range: Ludlow–Recent[1]
Various shells of Vetigastropoda
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Vetigastropoda
Salvini-Plawen, 1989
Superfamilies

See text

Diversity[2]
3,700 extant species
The fossil vetigastropod Discohelix tunisiensis from the Matmor Formation (Middle Jurassic) of southern Israel.

Vetigastropoda is a major taxonomic group of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks that form a very ancient lineage. Taxonomically the Vetigastropoda are sometimes treated as an order, although they are treated as an unranked clade in Bouchet and Rocroi, 2005.

Vetigastropods are considered to be among the most primitive living gastropods,[3] and are widely distributed in all oceans of the world. Their habitats range from the deep sea to intertidal zones. Many have shells with slits or other secondary openings. One of their main characteristics is the presence of intersected crossed platy shell structure.[4] Most vetigastropods have some bilateral asymmetry of their organ systems.[5]

  1. ^ Frýda, Jiří (1997). "Oldest Representatives of the Superfamily Cirroidea (Vetigastropoda) with Notes on Early Phylogeny". Journal of Paleontology. 71 (5): 839–847. doi:10.1017/s0022336000035782. JSTOR 1306561. S2CID 130637321.
  2. ^ Geiger, D.L.; Nützel, A.; Sasaki, T. (2008). "Vetigastropoda". In Ponder, W.F.; Lindberg, D.R. (eds.). Phylogeny and evolution of the Mollusca. University of California Press. pp. 297–330. ISBN 9780520250925.
  3. ^ Robertson, R. (2003). "The edible West Indian "whelk" Cittarium pica (Gastropoda: Trochidae): Natural history with new observations". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 153 (1): 27–47. doi:10.1635/0097-3157(2003)153[0027:TEWIWC]2.0.CO;2. S2CID 86363886.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hedegaard1997 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Salvini-Plawen, L.; Haszprunar, G. (1987). "The Vetigastropoda and the Systematics of Streptoneurous Gastropoda (Mollusca)". Journal of Zoology. 211 (4): 747–770. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1987.tb04485.x.