Abyssochrysos melanioides is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Abyssochrysidae.
This is the type specimen for which Tomlin created a new family Abyssochrisidae, but couldn't refer at the time to any superfamily. Some years later he thought it had any affinities with the families Littorinidae Children, 1834 and Thiaridae Gill, 1871 (1823).Tomlin (1931), On South African Marine Mollusca, with Descriptions of New Genera and Species. Annals of the Natal Museum, 6(3): 415–450, plate33 Houbrick (1979) brought the then known species of Abyssochrysos in the superfamily Loxonematacea Koken, with close affinities to the families Zygopleuridae Wenz, 1939, Paleozygopleuridae Horny, and Pseudozygopleuridae (Knight, 1930).R.S. 1979. Classification and systematic relationships of the Abyssochrysidae, a relict family of bathyal snails (Prosobranchia; Gastropoda). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 290: 1–21
Distribution The type specimen was dredged from a depth of off the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. PhilippinesBouchet P. (1991). "New records and new species of Abyssochrysos (Mollusca, Caenogastropoda). Journal of Natural History 25(2): 305–313. . Indonesia
Description
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