Odostomellini is a taxonomic tribe

Tribe (biology)

In biology, a tribe is a taxonomic rank between family and genus. It is sometimes subdivided into subtribes.Some examples include the tribes: Canini, Acalypheae, Hominini, Bombini, and Antidesmeae.-See also:* Biological classification* Rank...

 of minute sea snail

Sea snail

Sea snail is a common name for those snails that normally live in saltwater, marine gastropod molluscs....

s, marine

Marine (ocean)

Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology...

 gastropod molluscs within the family Pyramidellidae

Pyramidellidae

Pyramidellidae, common name the pyram family, or pyramid shells, is a voluminous taxonomic family of mostly small and minute ectoparasitic sea snails, marine heterobranch gastropod molluscs or micromolluscs....

 the pyrams and their allies.

Taxonomy

Odostomellinae has been one of eleven recognised subfamilies of the family Pyramidellidae

Pyramidellidae

Pyramidellidae, common name the pyram family, or pyramid shells, is a voluminous taxonomic family of mostly small and minute ectoparasitic sea snails, marine heterobranch gastropod molluscs or micromolluscs....

 (according to the taxonomy of Ponder & Lindberg, 1997

Taxonomy of the Gastropoda (Ponder & Lindberg, 1997)

The taxonomy of the Gastropoda, as revised by Winston Ponder and David R. Lindberg in 1997, is an older taxonomy of the class Gastropoda, the class of molluscs consisting of all snails and slugs...

). The subfamily contains two genera: Herviera

Herviera

Herviera is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Pyramidellidae, the pyrams and their allies.-Species:Species within the genus Herviera include:* Herviera gliriella...

and Odostomella

Odostomella

Odostomella is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Pyramidellidae, the pyrams and their allies.-Species:Species within the genus Odostomella include:* Odostomella africana Schander, 1994...

(Schander

Christoffer Schander

Christoffer Schander is professor in marine biology at the University of Bergen, Norway. He is also thematic leader at the Centre of excellence in Geobiology. He was born in Sweden in 1960. His doctoral thesis , from University of Gothenburg, Sweden, treated the evolutionary relationships of the...

 and co-workers 1999).

In the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi

Taxonomy of the Gastropoda (Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005)

The taxonomy of the Gastropoda as it was revised by Philippe Bouchet and Jean-Pierre Rocroi is currently the most up-to-date overall system for classifying gastropod mollusks...

 (2005), this subfamily has been downgraded to the rank of tribe

Tribe (biology)

In biology, a tribe is a taxonomic rank between family and genus. It is sometimes subdivided into subtribes.Some examples include the tribes: Canini, Acalypheae, Hominini, Bombini, and Antidesmeae.-See also:* Biological classification* Rank...

 Odostomellini in the subfamily Odostomiinae

Odostomiinae

Odostomiinae, Odostomia snails and their allies, is a taxonomic subfamily of minute parasitic sea snails. These are marine heterobranch gastropod mollusks, or micromollusks, in the family Pyramidellidae.-Taxonomy:...

.

Genera

Genera within the tribe Odostomellini include:

• Odostomella
  Odostomella
  Odostomella is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Pyramidellidae, the pyrams and their allies.-Species:Species within the genus Odostomella include:* Odostomella africana Schander, 1994...
  
  Bucquoy, Dautzenberg & Dollfus, 1883 - type genus of the tribe Odostomellini
• Heviera Melvill & Standen, 1899

Shell description

The shell

Gastropod shell

The gastropod shell is a shell which is part of the body of a gastropod or snail, one kind of mollusc. The gastropod shell is an external skeleton or exoskeleton, which serves not only for muscle attachment, but also for protection from predators and from mechanical damage...

 of these snails has a blunt, heterostrophic protoconch

Protoconch

A protoconch is an embryonic or larval shell of some classes of molluscs, e.g., the initial chamber of an ammonite or the larval shell of a gastropod...

, which is wrapped up. The texture of these shells is sculptured

Sculpture (mollusc)

The sculpture of a mollusc shell is the three-dimensional ornamentation on the outer surface, as distinct from the basic shape of the shell itself or colouration. Sculpture may be concave as well as convex. Sometimes it has microscopic detail. Sculpture refers to the calcareous outer layer, not the...

 with ribs. Their color is mostly white, brown, cream or yellowish, sometimes with red or brown lines. The teleoconch is dextrally coiled, but the larva

Larva

A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...

l shells are sinistral. This results in a sinistrally coiled protoconch. The aperture

Aperture (mollusc)

The aperture is an opening in certain kinds of mollusc shells: it is the main opening of the shell, where part of the body of the animal emerges for locomotion, feeding, etc....

 is closed by an operculum

Operculum (gastropod)

The operculum, meaning little lid, is a corneous or calcareous anatomical structure which exists in many groups of sea snails and freshwater snails, and also in a few groups of land snails...

.

Life habits

The Odostomellinae are ectoparasites, but the hosts are unknown.

They do not have a radula

Radula

The radula is an anatomical structure that is used by molluscs for feeding, sometimes compared rather inaccurately to a tongue. It is a minutely toothed, chitinous ribbon, which is typically used for scraping or cutting food before the food enters the esophagus...

. Instead their long proboscis

Proboscis

A proboscis is an elongated appendage from the head of an animal, either a vertebrate or an invertebrate. In simpler terms, a proboscis is the straw-like mouth found in several varieties of species.-Etymology:...

 is used to pierce the skin of its prey and suck up its fluids and soft tissues. The eyes on the grooved tentacles are situated toward the base of the tentacles. Between the head and the foot, a lobed process called the mentum

Mentum

The mentum refers to a projecting structure near the mouth of any of several animals:#In insects, the mentum is the distal part of the labium. The mentum bears the palps, glossae, paraglossae, and/or ligula....

 (= thin projection) is visible.

These molluscs are hermaphrodite

Hermaphrodite

In biology, a hermaphrodite is an organism that has reproductive organs normally associated with both male and female sexes.Many taxonomic groups of animals do not have separate sexes. In these groups, hermaphroditism is a normal condition, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which both...

s, laying eggs in jelly-like masses on the shell of its host. Some species have spermatophore

Spermatophore

A spermatophore or sperm ampulla is a capsule or mass created by males of various animal species, containing spermatozoa and transferred in entirety to the female's ovipore during copulation...

s (Schander, Hori & Lundberg, 1999).