Cymatium (gastropod)
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Cymatium Temporal range: Eocene - Recent |
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| A live individual of a Cymatium species near Alor Island, Indonesia | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| (unranked): | clade Caenogastropoda clade Hypsogastropoda clade Littorinimorpha |
| Superfamily: | Tonnoidea |
| Family: | Ranellidae |
| Subfamily: | Cymatiinae |
| Genus: |
Cymatium Röding, 1798 |
| Type species | |
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Murex femorale Linnaeus, 1758 |
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| Synonyms | |
Cymatium is a genus of small to large predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Ranellidae, the tritons.
This genus has numerous species, perhaps as many as 100, some of which have a worldwide distribution. The genus has been divided into at least 10 subgenera. Some authors have elevated those subgenera, giving them the full status of genera, but this is by no means universally accepted.
This genus is known in the fossil records from the Eocene to the Quaternary (age range: from 55.8 to 0.012 million years ago).
These sea snails have separate sexes. They lay egg capsules. After hatching, the larvae have a planktonic stage that can (in some species) last several months; this is what enables the very widespread distribution seen in certain species, as the planktonic larvae can be carried great distances before settling to the sea floor.
There are at least 10 subgenera within the genus Cymatium [1]. These are elevated by some authors to the level of genera.
According to the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) the following species with accepted names are included within the genus Cymatium
Two views of a shell of Cymatium lotorium
Fossil shell of Cymatium affine from Pliocene of Italy
Fossil shell of Cymatium doderleini from Pliocene of Italy
Cymatium species found in the Western Atlantic include:[2]
Other species include:
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