Bostrycapulus, common name

Common name

A common name of a taxon or organism is a name in general use within a community; it is often contrasted with the scientific name for the same organism...

 the "spiny slipper snails", is a genus

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 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, marine

Marine (ocean)

Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology...

 gastropod mollusks in the family Calyptraeidae

Calyptraeidae

Calyptraeidae, common name the slipper snails or slipper limpets, cup-and-saucer snails, and Chinese hat snails are a family of small to medium-sized marine prosobranch gastropods...

, the slipper snails, cup-and-saucer snails and Chinese hat snails.

Before 2005, the snails in this genus were all thought to belong to one species, which was known as Crepidula aculeata, the spiny slipper snail.

Species

Species within the genus Bostrycapulus include:

• Bostrycapulus aculeatus
  Bostrycapulus aculeatus
  Bostrycapulus aculeatus is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Calyptraeidae, the slipper snails or slipper limpets, cup-and-saucer snails, and Chinese hat snails....
  
  (Gmelin, 1791) - type species
• Bostrycapulus calyptraeformis (Deshayes, 1830)
• Bostrycapulus gravispinosus (Kuroda and Habe, 1950)
• Bostrycapulus heteropoma
  Bostrycapulus heteropoma
  Bostrycapulus heteropoma is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Calyptraeidae, the slipper snails or slipper limpets, cup-and-saucer snails, and Chinese hat snails....
  
  Collin & Rolán, 2010
• Bostrycapulus latebrus
  Bostrycapulus latebrus
  Bostrycapulus latebrus is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Calyptraeidae, the slipper snails or slipper limpets, cup-and-saucer snails, and Chinese hat snails....
  
  Collin, 2005
• Bostrycapulus odites
  Bostrycapulus odites
  Bostrycapulus odites is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Calyptraeidae, the slipper snails or slipper limpets, cup-and-saucer snails, and Chinese hat snails....
  
  Collin, 2005
• Bostrycapulus pritzkeri
  Bostrycapulus pritzkeri
  Bostrycapulus pritzkeri is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Calyptraeidae, the slipper snails or slipper limpets, cup-and-saucer snails, and Chinese hat snails....
  
  Collin, 2005
• Bostrycapulus tegulicius (Rochebrune, 1883)
• Bostrycapulus urraca
  Bostrycapulus urraca
  Bostrycapulus urraca is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Calyptraeidae, the slipper snails or slipper limpets, cup-and-saucer snails, and Chinese hat snails....
  
  Collin, 2005

Taxonomic history

All of the species within the genus Bostrycapulus were previously assigned to a single species, Crepidula aculeata. However, molecular phylogenetic and anatomical work have show them to be a separate monophyletic grouping or clade

Clade

A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...

, which has elevated them to the genus status. DNA sequence data has also been used in combination with embryological observations to distinguish 8 species.