Diaphanoidea
Encyclopedia
Diaphanoidea is a taxonomic superfamily
of small sea snail
s, marine
opisthobranch gastropod mollusks or micromollusk
s in the Cephalaspidea
, the headshield slugs and bubble snails.
Species in this superfamily have small, flimsy, almost globular shells, known as paper bubble gastropod shell
s.
, and New Zealand
.
is minute, thin, fragile, colorless to translucent, and usually less than 5 mm in size. The overall shape is ovate, pear-shaped, and bulbous. There is a sunken apex
.
Taxonomic rank
In biological classification, rank is the level in a taxonomic hierarchy. Examples of taxonomic ranks are species, genus, family, and class. Each rank subsumes under it a number of less general categories...
of 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, 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...
opisthobranch 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 in the Cephalaspidea
Cephalaspidea
The suborder Cephalaspidea, also known as the headshield slugs and bubble snails, is a clade of sea slugs and bubble snails, marine gastropod mollusks within the larger clade Euopisthobranchia....
, the headshield slugs and bubble snails.
Species in this superfamily have small, flimsy, almost globular shells, known as paper bubble gastropod shell
Gastropod shell
The gastropod shell is a shell which is part of the body of a gastropod or snail, one kind of mollusc. The gastropod shell is an external skeleton or exoskeleton, which serves not only for muscle attachment, but also for protection from predators and from mechanical damage...
s.
Distribution
Species in this superfamily are found in cold seas, such as the Arctic region, Antarctica, AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
Shell description
The shellGastropod shell
The gastropod shell is a shell which is part of the body of a gastropod or snail, one kind of mollusc. The gastropod shell is an external skeleton or exoskeleton, which serves not only for muscle attachment, but also for protection from predators and from mechanical damage...
is minute, thin, fragile, colorless to translucent, and usually less than 5 mm in size. The overall shape is ovate, pear-shaped, and bulbous. There is a sunken apex
Apex (mollusc)
Apex is an anatomical term for the tip of the mollusc shell of a gastropod, scaphopod, or cephalopod mollusc.-Gastropods:The word "apex" is most often used to mean the tip of the spire of the shell of a gastropod...
.
Families
Families in the superfamily Diaphanoidea include:- DiaphanidaeDiaphanidaeDiaphanidae is a taxonomic family of small sea snails, marine opisthobranch gastropod molluscs or micromollusks in the superfamily Diaphanoidea, the headshield slugs and bubble snails....
Odhner, 1922 - NotodiaphanidaeNotodiaphanidaeNotodiaphana fragilis is a species of marine snail, gastropod mollusk in the clade Architectibranchia.Notodiaphana fragilis is the only species in the genus Notodiaphana...
ThieleJohannes ThieleJohannes Thiele, full name Karl Hermann Johannes Thiele was a German zoologist specialized in malacology. His Handbuch der systematischen Weichtierkunde is a standard work...
, 1931