Atlanta tokiokai Van der Spoel and Troost, 1972

Overview

This is a medium sized, dextrally shelled, pelagic snail, 0.3 cm in diameter with large eyes and a single swimming fin. The shell is strongly flattened and keeled. The faint yellow spire is small, oblique. The spire has spiral lines. On the whole shell spiral and faint transverse sculpture is present. The operculum is relatively thick. It is a carnivore predating on relatively large zooplankton. This species occurs in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans (Atlanta tokiokai 2).

Taxonomic Description

Medium size shell with the keel penetrating slightly in between the body whorl and preceding one. The shell is faint yellow, the inside of the aperture is brown. The spire has 5 closely coiled whorls, the whorls are slightly convex. The top angle is 80°. (Atlanta tokiokai). The whole shell is covered with spirally arranged rows of tubercles and radial striae are very faint. The spire is strongly oblique (Atlanta tokiokai from lateral). The suture is shallow (Atlanta tokiokai 1). The shell is flattened between the narrow umbilicus and the line continuing from the keel. The inner walls of the whorls in the spire are decalcified. The operculum (type C) is monogyre and thick. The eyes are of the type B. The radula is small and ribbon-shaped.
Shell diameter up to 3 mm.

Juveniles

The juveniles (Atlanta tokiokai veliger) have a small dextrally coiled shell. The juvenile shell is conical to globose with a blunt tip and round contour of the whorls. The Atlanta tokiokai protoconch I is smooth the protoconch II is covered by typical spiral lines composed of fine dots.

Reproduction

In this form the sexes are separate.

Ecology

This species is carnivorous and epipelagic.

Distribution

This species is found in the Pacific and Indian Oceans and the Caribbean, see the Atlanta tokiokai map.

Types

Atlanta tokiokai Van der Spoel and Troost, 1972: 2, figs. 1-3.
Holotype: ZMAN, dissolved (alcohol collection).
Type locality: 12°01.6'-12°02.3'N 68°22'38"-68°25'0'W, Coll.: Cicar Expedition, stat. 60.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Mollusca
Class Gastropoda
Subclass Streptoneura
Order Mesogastropoda
Superfamily Atlantacea
Family Atlantidae
Genus Atlanta
Species Atlanta tokiokai

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Not included in WoRMS database

Scientific synonyms and common names

Atlanta tokiokai Van der Spoel and Troost, 1972

Synonyms

Atlanta tokiokai n. sp. Van der Spoel and Troost, 1972: 1
Atlanta inclinata "forma atypic"? Frontier, 1966b: figs. 113-114
Protatlanta souleyeti (non Smith, 1888) Tokioka, 1961: 318

Frontier, S., 1966b. Notes morphologiques sur les Atlanta récoltées dans le plancton de Nosy-Bé (Madagascar). Cah. ORSTOM, Océanogr. 4(2): 131-135, 36 figs.

Richter, G., 1990a. Zur kenntnis der Gattung Atlanta (4),. Die Atlanta inclinata-Gruppe (Prosobranchia: Heteropoda). Arch. Moll. 119(1988)(4/6): 259-276.

Seapy, R. R., 1990d. Sampling requirements for epipelagic heteropod molluscs. Amer. Malac. Bull. 8(1): 45-52.

Seapy, R. R., 1990e. The pelagic family Atlantidae (Gastropoda: Heteropoda) from Hawaiian waters: A faunistic survey. Malacologia 32(1): 107-103.

Tokioka, T., 1961. The structure of the operculum of the species of Atlantidae (Gastropoda: Heteropoda) as a taxonomic criterion, with records of some pelagic mollusks in the North Pacific. Publ. Seto mar. biol. Lab. 9(2): 267-332 (art. 15, pp. 1-86).

Spoel, S. van der and Troost, D. G., 1972. Atlanta tokiokai, a new heteropod (Gastropoda). Basteria 36 (1): 1-6.

Spoel, S. van der, 1976c. Pseudothecosomata, Gymnosomata and Heteropoda. Bohn, Scheltema & Holkema, Utrecht. 484 pp. 246 figs.

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