Lepetodrilus sp. East Scotia Ridge

Lepetodrilus sp. East Scotia Ridge (nomen nudum) is an as yet undescribed species of small, deep-sea sea snail, a hydrothermal vent limpet, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Lepetodrilidae.

Lepetodrilus sp. East Scotia Ridge
Lepetodrilus sp. from East Scotia Ridge on carapace of large individual of Kiwa sp.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Gastropoda
(unranked):
clade Vetigastropoda
Superfamily:
Lepetodriloidea
Family:
Lepetodrilidae
Genus:
Lepetodrilus
Species:
L. sp. East Scotia Ridge
Binomial name
Lepetodrilus sp. East Scotia Ridge

The first information about this species, under the name "Lepetodrilus n. sp.", was published on 3 January 2012.[1]

Location of E2 and E9 sites in the Scotia Sea showing the East Scotia Ridge (ESR) between the Scotia Plate (SCO) and South Sandwich Plate (SAN).

Distribution

This species is known from two sites near hydrothermal vents in the East Scotia Ridge: from 2,394 m depth at the E9 vent site, and from 2,608 m depth at the E2 site.[1]

Description

Phylogenetic analysis of the mitochondrial cytochrome-c oxidase I (COI) gene of this limpet (GenBank accession number JN628254) and a range of other Lepetodrilus species, using Bayesian inference, places this species from East Scotia Ridge as a sister taxon to Lepetodrilus atlanticus, with a sequence divergence from this species of 5.48%.[1] This level of genetic divergence is consistent with that found between Lepetodrilus species within complexes of sister taxa, where interspecific distances of between 3% and 15% have been observed.[1]

Ecology
Numerous individuals of the hydrothermal vent limpet Lepetodrilus sp. East Scotia Ridge partially cover the shells of Gigantopelta chessoia on the East Scotia Ridge site E2 in the Scotia Sea, SouthAtlantic Ocean. Scale bar 10 cm.

This species is ubiquitous in low-temperature diffuse flow, being found on bare rock, sulphides, Kiwa sp., gastropods Gigantopelta chessoia, and stalked barnacles.[1] On the carapace of Kiwa n. sp., a "halo" of pale colouration surrounding the limpets indicates where this species of Lepetodrilus is grazing epizoic microbes.[1]

The population density of Lepetodrilus sp. on the barnacles Vulcanolepas scotiaensis was estimated to 20,172–56,904 individuals m−2.[2][3]

gollark: No it's not. If it wasn't in Earth orbit, then my banks of Earth-facing lunar railguns wouldn't really work.
gollark: It is in our orbit.
gollark: It would require much Δv to crash it into the sun, but escaping Earth's gravity is easier. "Out of sight, out of mind", as they say.
gollark: This is not fast enough. I say we move the Moon with fusion rockets or something.
gollark: That sure is a quote which exists.

References

This article incorporates CC-BY-2.5 text from the reference[1]

  1. Rogers A.D., Tyler P.A., Connelly D.P., Copley J.T., James R., Larter R.D., Linse K., Mills R.A., Garabato A.N., Pancost R.D., Pearce D.A., Polunin N.V., German C.R., Shank T., Boersch-Supan P.H., Alker B.J., Aquilina A., Bennett S.A., Clarke A., Dinley R.J., Graham A.G., Green D.R., Hawkes J.A., Hepburn L., Hilario A., Huvenne V.A., Marsh L., Ramirez-Llodra E., Reid W.D., Roterman C.N., Sweeting C.J., Thatje S. & Zwirglmaier K. (2012). "The Discovery of New Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vent Communities in the Southern Ocean and Implications for Biogeography". PLoS Biology 10(1): e1001234. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001234.
  2. Marsh L., Copley J. T., Huvenne V. A. I., Linse K., Reid W. D. K., Rogers A. D., Sweeting C. J. & Tyler P. A. (2012). "Microdistribution of faunal assemblages at deep-sea hydrothermal vents in the Southern Ocean". PLoS ONE 7: e48348. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0048348
  3. Buckeridge J. S., Linse K. & Jackson J. A. (2013). "Vulcanolepas scotiaensis sp. nov., a new deep-sea scalpelliform barnacle (Eolepadidae: Neolepadinae) from hydrothermal vents in the Scotia Sea, Antarctica". Zootaxa 3745(5): 551-568. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3745.5.4.
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