Antarctoneptunea is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the whelk family Austrosiphonidae.
Distribution Antarctoneptunea marine snails occur in deep water surrounding New Zealand and in Southern Ocean encircling Antarctica, particularly in the Ross Sea.Dell R.K., (1990). Antarctic Mollusca with special reference to the fauna of the Ross Sea, The Royal Society of New Zealand Bulletin 27.
Evolution Molecular phylogenetic trees based on mitochondrial genomic and nuclear ribosomal DNA sequence data indicate that Antarctoneptunea is closely related to the Northern Hemisphere genus Kelletia, and Penion siphon whelks found in waters surrounding New Zealand and Australia. It has been suggested that some Antarctic fossil species of Penion are misclassified Antarctoneptunea.
Species Species within the genus Antarctoneptunea include:
Antarctoneptunea aurora (Hedley, 1916) Antarctoneptunea benthicola (Dell, 1956)
Species brought into synonymy Penion benthicolus delli Powell, 1971: synonym of Antarctoneptunea benthicola (Dell, 1956)Dell, R.K. 1995. New species and records of deep-water Mollusca from off New Zealand. Tuhinga: Records of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, 2: 1 - 26.
References
External links Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Taxon: Antarctoneptunea (Genus)