Antarctoneptunea

Antarctoneptunea is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the whelk family Austrosiphonidae.^[1][2][3][4]

Antarctoneptunea Temporal range: Early Pleistocene to Recent, 2.4–0.0 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Shell of Antarctoneptunea benthicola (specimen at the Auckland War Memorial Museum)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Neogastropoda
Family:	Austrosiphonidae
Genus:	Antarctoneptunea Dell, 1972

Distribution

Antarctoneptunea marine snails occur in deep water surrounding New Zealand and in Southern Ocean encircling Antarctica, particularly in the Ross Sea.^[2][5][3][6]

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.^[3][6][1] It has been suggested that some Antarctic fossil species of Penion are misclassified Antarctoneptunea.^[7]

Cladogram of Austrosiphonidae and Tudiclidae[8][1][6][9] Antarctoneptunea Kelletia Penion Serratifusus Aeneator Buccinulum Euthria Tasmeuthria

Species

Species within the genus Antarctoneptunea include:

• Antarctoneptunea aurora (Hedley, 1916)^{[2][3][6][10]}
• Antarctoneptunea benthicola (Dell, 1956)^[3][6][11]

Species brought into synonymy

• Penion benthicolus delli Powell, 1971: synonym of Antarctoneptunea benthicola (Dell, 1956)^[12]