Provannidae
Family of gastropods
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Provannidae is a family of deep water sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfmaily Abyssochrysoidea (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005 and updated in 2008 by Kaim et al.).[3]
| Provannidae Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| |
| Two preserved individuals of Alviniconcha hessleri | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Subclass: | Caenogastropoda |
| Order: | incertae sedis |
| Superfamily: | Abyssochrysoidea |
| Family: | Provannidae Warén & Ponder, 1991 [2] |
| Type genus | |
| Provanna Dall, 1918 | |
| Synonyms[3] | |
|
Pseudonininae Bertolaso & Palazzi, 1994 | |
The genera Provanna and Desbruyeresia have smaller and slender shells, while the shells of Alviniconcha and Ifremeria are larger and swollen. The shells of these two last genera house a hypertrophied ctenidium large quantities of symbiotic bacteria.
Habitat
These snails are part of the fauna of the deep-sea hydrothermal vents, cold seeps, whale falls, and sunken driftwood environments.[4]
Taxonomy
The family Provaniidae was previously placed in the "Zygopleuroid group" (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005). This family has no subfamilies according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005.
Subsequently, Provaniidae was placed in the superfamily Abyssochrysoidea Tomlin, 1927.[1]
There are some affinities with the Littorinoidea as shown by molecular data [5] and sperm ultrastructure [6]
Multi-gene analysis has shown that the family Provannidae is paraphyletic. It is being treated as belonging to the superfamily Abyssochrysoidea until a new family-level revision has been undertaken.[7]
Genera
Genera within the family Provannidae include:
- Alviniconcha Okutani & Ohta, 1988
- Cordesia Warén & Bouchet, 2009 - with the only species Cordesia provannoides Warén & Bouchet, 2009[8]
- Desbruyeresia Warén & Bouchet, 1993
- Ifremeria Bouchet & Warén, 1991
- Ifremeria nautilei - this species has endosymbiotic bacteria, which provide "food" via chemoautotrophy.[4]
- Provanna Dall, 1918
- Rubyspira Johnson et al., 2010 (not assigned to a family) [7]
- Genera brought into synonymy
- Olgaconcha L. Beck, 1991: synonym of Ifremeria Bouchet & Warén, 1991
