Brown, 1827

Description:
Shell is fragile and delicate. Up to 5 whorls in all. Spire is usually flattened.

Colour:
Shell is translucent white.

Animal:
The body may reach 8 mm in overall length and is white with a tinge of amber. The cephalic disc is produced laterally to form a flattened tentacular processes. The propodium is dilated antero-laterally so as to form a pair of wing-like tentacular processes. The metapodium is forked posteriorly. The diet is unknown (D. minuta-drawing).

Habitat:
The animal burrows is sand, from LWST down to 350 m.

Distribution:
From Greenland to New England and from Iceland and the Arctic Sea to the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands (Distr. D. minuta).

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Mollusca
Class Gastropoda
Subclass Opisthobranchia
Order Cephalaspidea
Family Diaphanidae
Genus Diaphana
Species Diaphana minuta

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Diaphana minuta Brown, 1827

Scientific synonyms and common names

Diaphana minuta Brown, 1827
Diaphana pellucida Brown, 1827
Diaphana candida Brown, 1827
Bulla hyalina Turton, 1834
Diaphana debilis Gould, 1840
Utriculus candidus Brown, 1844
Amphispyra globosa Lovén, 1846
Amphisphya hyalina Forbes & Hanley, 1850
Utriculus hyalinus Jeffreys, 1867

Poppe, G.T. & Y. Goto, 1991. European Seashells. Vol. I. 352 pp. Wiesbaden/Verlag Christa Hemmen.

Seaward, D.R., 1990. Distribution of the marine molluscs of north west Europe. Nature Conservancy Council.

Thompson, T.E. & G.H. Brown, 1976. British Opisthobranch Molluscs (Mollusca: Gastropoda). Synopses of the British Fauna (NS), 8: 1-203.

Thompson, T.E., 1988. Molluscs: Benthic Opisthobranchs (Mollusca: Gastropoda). Synopses of the British fauna (NS), 8: 1-356.

You can continue searching for Diaphana minuta on one of these Web sites:

Fauna Europaea (animals) | IOPI (plants) | NCBI (genetic)

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