Neopilina galatheae

Neopilina galatheae is a species of monoplacophoran, a superficially limpet-like marine mollusc.[1] Its name means new Pilina (after Pilina, an extinct monoplacophoran species that lived about 400 million years ago).

Neopilina galatheae
The holotype of N. galatheae at the Zoological Museum, Copenhagen
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Monoplacophora
Order: Tryblidiida
Family: Neopilinidae
Genus: Neopilina
Species:
N. galatheae
Binomial name
Neopilina galatheae
Lemche, 1957

It was discovered off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica in the 1950s, where 10 specimens were collected. Later, additional specimens have been collected off the coast of Chile and off Cabo San Lucas, Baja California, Mexico.[2] It lives in depths of 5000 meters and the shell is 3 centimeters in length in adults. [3]


Its discovery has been described as "the most dramatic one in the history of malacology."[4]

References
  1. MolluscaBase (2020). Bieler R, Bouchet P, Gofas S, Marshall B, Rosenberg G, La Perna R, Neubauer TA, Sartori AF, Schneider S, Vos C, ter Poorten JJ, Taylor J, Dijkstra H, Finn J, Bank R, Neubert E, Moretzsohn F, Faber M, Houart R, Picton B, Garcia-Alvarez O (eds.). "Neopilina galatheae". MolluscaBase. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  2. Schwabe, Enrico (2008). A summary of reports of abyssal and hadal Monoplacophora and Polyplacophora (Mollusca). In: Martínez Arbizu, P. & Brix, S. (Eds) (2008) Bringing Light into Deep-sea Biodiversity. Zootaxa, 1866, 1–574.
  3. Pechenik, Jan A. (2015). "Chapter 12: The Molluscs". In Peden, Jane (ed.). Biology of the Invertebrates (7 ed.). McGraw-Hill Education. ISBN 978-0073524184.
  4. Clausen, Conrad D. (1976). Neopilina: A Living Fossil. In: Geoscience Research Institute Volume 03-1


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