Rubyspira is a genus of deep water sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks unclassified in the family within the superfamily Abyssochrysoidea.[1]
Distribution
They are known from Monterey Bay, California.[1]
Species
Species within the genus Rubyspira include:
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Rubyspira goffrediae Johnson, Warén, Lee, Kano, Kaim, Davis, Strong & Vrijenhoek, 2010[1]
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Rubyspira osteovora Johnson, Warén, Lee, Kano, Kaim, Davis, Strong & Vrijenhoek, 2010 - type species of the genus Rubyspira[1]
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Rubyspira from São Paulo Ridge (undescribed species)[2]
Ecology
They are specialized bone-eating snails on whale falls.[1] They were found on carcass of gray whale.[1] Their main food source are bones of whales.[1]
References
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^ a b c d e f g h i j Johnson S. B., Warén A., Lee R. W., Kano Y., Kaim A., Davis A., Strong E. E. & Vrijenhoek R. C. (2010). "Rubyspira, new genus and two new species of bone-eating deep-sea snails with ancient habits". The Biological Bulletin 219(2): 166-177. HTML.
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^ Sumida P. Y. G., Alfaro-Lucas J. M., Shimabukuro M., Kitazato H., Perez J. A. A., Soares-Gomes A., Toyofuku T., Lima A. O. S., Ara K. & Fujiwara Y. (2016). "Deep-sea whale fall fauna from the Atlantic resembles that of the Pacific Ocean". Scientific Reports 6: Article number: 22139. doi:10.1038/srep22139.
