Mesoneura (gastropod)
| Mesoneura | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Subclass: | Heterobranchia |
| Infraclass: | Brenzinger et al., 2021 |
| Superfamilies[1] | |
| |
Mesoneura is an infraclass of gastropods in the subclass Heterobranchia.[1]
They are the sister group to Euthyneura, and show intermediate characteristics between lower heterobranchs and euthyneurans.
Four families are included in Mesoneura: Tjaernoeiidae, a family of minute deep-sea snails with coiled shells, Parvaplustridae, a family of deep-sea snails with bubble-like shells, Murchisonellidae, one of the most ancient families of snails, and Rhodopidae, a family of worm-like sea slugs.
Molecular clock analysis suggests that Mesoneura diverged from Euthyneura approximately 359 million years ago, with a 95% confidence interval of 406–307 million years ago. The earliest fossil murchisonellids are known from rocks dated to between 350 and 260 million years ago.[2]
References
- ^ a b "MolluscaBase - Mesoneura". www.molluscabase.org. Retrieved 22 June 2025.
- ^ Brenzinger, Bastian; Schrödl, Michael; Kano, Yasunori (2021-10-25). "Origin and significance of two pairs of head tentacles in the radiation of euthyneuran sea slugs and land snails". Scientific Reports. 11 (1): 21016. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-99172-5. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 8545979.