Polemicella is a small genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of very small sea snail

Snail

Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...

s, pyramidellid

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....

 gastropod mollusks or micromollusk

Micromollusk

A micromollusk is a descriptive term for a shelled mollusk which is extremely small, even at full adult size. The word is usually, but not exclusively, applied to marine mollusks, although in addition, numerous species of land snails and freshwater mollusks also reach adult size at very small...

s. This genus is currently placed in the subfamily Chrysallidinae

Chrysallidinae

Chrysallidinae is a taxonomic group of very small sea snails in the family Pyramidellidae.- Taxonomy :Chrysallidinae has been one of eleven recognized subfamilies of the gastropod family Pyramidellidae...

 of the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Odostomiidae.

Shell description

The original description by Laseron (1959) (in French) states that the genus was introduced for forms of the near Pyrgulina polemica: short shell with graduated, streamlined or angled whorls on the periphery. It is sculpted with axial ribs and with a single spiral on periphery. There is sometimes a spiral towards the summit of the whorls. Pyrgulina mellvilli is also a representative typical of this genus.

Life history

Nothing is known about the biology of the members of this genus. As is true of most members of the 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....

 sensu lato, they are most likely to be ectoparasites.

Species

Species within the genus Polemicella include:

• Polemicella polemica (Melvill, 1910) (Type species) (as Pyrgulina polemica)
• Polemicella aartseni Robba, Di Geronimo, Chaimanee, Negri & Sanfilippo, 2003
• Polemicella piscatorum Saurin, 1959
• Polemicella saurini Robba, Di Geronimo, Chaimanee, Negri & Sanfilippo, 2003