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Pteropods are estimated to have originated during the Early Cretaceous, around 133 million years ago, with the diversification into the major lineages occurring during the mid-late Cretaceous. The oldest known fossil pteropod is a member of Limacinidae from the early-middle Campanian deposits of the San Juan Islands. [9] [10]
Most pteropods have some form of calcified shell, although it is often very light, even translucent. [3] The sea butterflies include some of the world's most abundant gastropod species; [1] as their large numbers are an essential part of the ocean food chain, they are a significant contributor to the oceanic carbon cycle. [3] [4]
Pteropods are strict pelagic mollusks that are highly adapted to life in the open ocean. [11] They are actively swimming in the water. Limacina helicina is a holoplanktonic species. Habitat of Limacina helicina is upper epipelagic and glacial. [16] It lives in temperatures from -0.4 °C to +4.0 °C or rarely up to 7 °C. [27]
Like other thecosome pteropods, Cavolinia inflexa form an aggronite shell to surround their body. As a result, they have been found to be highly sensitive to ocean acidification and the constantly changing water column’s chemical composition. [3]
These snails all have a coiled shell present in their larval stage. But the shell is no longer present in the Pterotracheidae after metamorphosis.The keel (sharp ridge on a whorl of the shell) of the adult shell extends outwards in the Atlantidae and anteriorly in Carinariidae.
Sea angels were previously considered to be pteropods. Sea angels are also sometimes known as "sea butterflies" but this is potentially misleading because the family Clionidae is just one of the families within this clade, and the term "sea butterfly" is also applied to the shelled Thecosomata.
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The Limacinidae are a family of small sea snails, pteropods, pelagic marine gastropod mollusks in the clade Thecosomata (sea butterflies). [2] [1] Genera.