(No common name)

ORDER

Tryblidioidea

FAMILY

Neopilininae

TAXONOMY

Laevipilina antarctica Warén and Hain, 1992, Polarstern expedition ANT VII/4, station 245, 75°40.4'S, 029°37.2'W, 1,560 ft (480 m).

OTHER COMMON NAMES

None known.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

The shell is small, fragile, depressed, and transparent with a flat peristome. The apex is slightly mamillate, forms an angle of approximately 60° with the basal plane, and is situated behind the anterior margin. The apical area has no distinct sculpture but has only regularly shaped impressions. Outside this area begins a uniform, concentric sculpture of low, raised ridges formed by the concentric arrangement of the prisms of the prismatic layer, which also form indistinct and fragmentary radial ridges. The shell is low. A convex curve forms gradually toward the posterior aspect, the highest point of the curve being somewhat behind the apex. The velar lobes are well developed and strongly ciliated. The anterior lip is conspicuous and rather thinly cuticularized. The postoral tentacles are short and

claviforme and equipped with approximately seven short, stumpy distal appendages. There are five pairs of gills. The foot (contracted) measures 0.06 by 0.04 in (1.5 by 0.9 mm). The gonads are visible as a large, lobate, dorsal sac along each side of the animal. The anus is a simple opening in the pallial furrow.

DISTRIBUTION

Weddell Sea, Lazarev Sea, Antarctica.

HABITAT

Stones or old shells in the sea at a depth of 690–2,100 ft (210–644 m).

FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET

All feed by scraping off the thin layer of sediment and eating mineral particles, unidentified organic material, scattered sponge spicules, radiolarian fragments, small nematodes, and polychaete bristles.

BEHAVIOR

Nothing is known.

REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY

Nothing is known.

CONSERVATION STATUS

Not listed by the IUCN.

SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS

Research use.