Finella
Encyclopedia
Finella 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
Sea snail
Sea snail is a common name for those snails that normally live in saltwater, marine gastropod molluscs....

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
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...

 Scaliolidae
Scaliolidae
Scaliolidae, common name scaliolids, is a family of sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the clade Sorbeoconcha.The sand agglutinates to the teleoconch in Scaliola.- 2005 taxonomy :...

.

This genus has been assigned in the course of time to different families by different authors: Rissoidae
Rissoidae
Rissoidae is a large family of very small and minute sea snails with an operculum, marine gastropod mollusks in the clade Littorinimorpha.-Distribution and habitat:...

, Cerithiidae
Cerithiidae
Cerithiidae, common name the cerithiids or ceriths, is a large family of medium-sized marine gastropods in the clade Sorbeoconcha.- Distribution :...

, Dialidae
Dialidae
Dialidae, common name dialids, is a family of sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the clade Sorbeoconcha.According to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi the family Dialidae has no subfamilies.- Genera :...

, Obtortionidae
Obtortionidae
Obtortionidae is a family of sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Cerithioidea, that is within the clade Cerithimorpha or in clade Sorbeoconcha.The shell of the larva is ornamental.- 2005 taxonomy :...

, Finellidae and Diastomatidae
Diastomatidae
Diastomatidae is a family of sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Cerithioidea.According to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi the family Diastomatidae has no subfamilies.- Genera :...

 Morphological and anatomical studies by Winston Ponder
Winston Ponder
Winston F. Ponder B.Sc, M.Sc, Ph.D, D.Sc. is a noted malacologist from New Zealand who has named and described many marine animals, especially micromolluscs. He is a graduate of the University of Auckland, New Zealand....

 in 1994 established that the genera Finella and Scaliola
Scaliola
Scaliola is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Scaliolidae.-Species:Species within the genus Scaliola include:* Scaliola arenosa A. Adams* Scaliola caledonica Crosse, 1870* Scaliola elata Issel, 1869...

didn't belong in the above mentioned families and he brought them in a new family Scaliolidae. This was supported in 1982 by Healy through the study of the ultrastructure on the spermatozoa.

Description

The species in this genus contain a small, elongated, conical shell without siphonal canal
Siphonal canal
Some sea marine gastropods have a soft tubular anterior extension of the mantle called a siphon through which water is drawn into the mantle cavity and over the gill and which serves as a chemoreceptor to locate food. In many carnivorous snails, where the siphon is particularly long, the structure...

. The axial to spiral sculpture
Sculpture (mollusc)
The sculpture of a mollusc shell is the three-dimensional ornamentation on the outer surface, as distinct from the basic shape of the shell itself or colouration. Sculpture may be concave as well as convex. Sometimes it has microscopic detail. Sculpture refers to the calcareous outer layer, not the...

 varies between weak and strong.

Distribution

The snails of this species are common to even abundant in shallow waters of the tropical Indo-West Pacific Ocean.

Species

Species within the genus Finella include:
  • Finella adamsi
    Finella adamsi
    Finella adamsi is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Obtortionidae....

    (Dall, 1889)
  • Finella dubia
    Finella dubia
    Finella dubia is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Obtortionidae....

    (d’Orbigny, 1840)
  • Finella geayi Lamy, 1910
  • Finella longinqua (Haas, 1949)
  • Finella portoricana (Dall & Simpson, 1901)
  • Finella pupoides
    Finella pupoides
    Finella pupoides is a species of small sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Scaliolidae.-Description:The shell size varies between 2 mm and 4 mm. Its color varies from white to pale yellow, a few times even dark brown. The shell shows typically two indistinct brown bands below the...

    Adams A., 1860

External links

  • Hasegawa K. (1998). "A review of recent Japanese species previously assigned to Eufenella and Clathrofenella (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Cerithioidea)". Memoirs of the National Science Museum (Tokyo) 31: 165-186. PDF.
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