Sea butterflies
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Mollusca Class: Gastropoda Subclass: Orthogastropoda Superorder: Heterobranchia Order: Opisthobranchia Suborder: Thecosomata
Families
Limacinidae Cavoliniidae Clioidae Creseidae Cuvierinidae Praecuvierinidae Peraclididae Cymbuliidae Desmopteridae An unidentified species of sea butterfly. ... Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ... Phyla Porifera (sponges) Ctenophora (comb jellies) Cnidaria Placozoa Bilateria  Acoelomorpha  Orthonectida  Rhombozoa  Myxozoa  Superphylum Deuterostomia     Chordata (vertebrates, etc. ... Classes Caudofoveata Aplacophora Polyplacophora - Chitons Monoplacophora Bivalvia - Bivalves Scaphopoda - Tusk shells Gastropoda - Snails and Slugs Cephalopoda - Squids, Octopuses, etc. ... Subclass Subclass Eogastropoda     Patellogastropoda Subclass Orthogastropoda   Superorder Cocculiniformia   Superorder Hot Vent Taxa     Neomphaolida   Superorder Vetigastropoda   Superorder Neritaemorphi     Neritopsina   Superorder Caenogastropoda     Architaenioglossa     Sorbeoconcha   Superorder Heterobranchia     Heterostropha     Opisthobranchia     Pulmonata The gastropods, or univalves, are the largest and most successful class of mollusks, with 60,000-75,000 species, and second largest class... Superorders Cocculiniformia Hot Vent taxa Vetigastropoda Neritaemorphi Caenogastropoda Heterobranchia In their work, which has become a standard reference in the field, Ponder and Lindberg (1997) showed that the Orthogastropoda is one of two subclasses of the Gastropoda the class of molluscs, the other subclass being the Eogastropoda. ... Orders Heterostropha Opisthobranchia Pulmonata Heterobranchia (= different-gilled snails) is a superorder of mollusks in the class of the gastropods. ... Suborders Cephalaspidea Sacoglossa Anaspidea Notaspidea Thecosomata Gymnosomata Nudibranchia   Infraorder Anthobranchia   Infraorder Cladobranchia In zoology, the Opisthobranchia (Milne Edwards, 1848) (also known as opisthobranchs) used to be a subclass of gastropods, within the phylum Mollusca, but they are now treated as an order. ... Species Limacina bulimoides Limacina helicina Limacina helicoides Limacina lesueurii Limacina retroversa Limacina trochiformis The sea butterflies from the family Limacinidae (Blainville, 1823) have evolved from fossils from the Middle Miocene. ... Families Cavoliniidae Clioidae Creseidae Cuvierinidae Praecuvierinidae The superfamily Cavolinioidea (H. and A. Adams, 1854) belong to the sea butterflies of the infraorder Euthecosomata. ... Families Cavoliniidae Clioidae Creseidae Cuvierinidae Praecuvierinidae The superfamily Cavolinioidea (H. and A. Adams, 1854) belong to the sea butterflies of the infraorder Euthecosomata. ... Families Cavoliniidae Clioidae Creseidae Cuvierinidae Praecuvierinidae The superfamily Cavolinioidea (H. and A. Adams, 1854) belong to the sea butterflies of the infraorder Euthecosomata. ... Families Cavoliniidae Clioidae Creseidae Cuvierinidae Praecuvierinidae The superfamily Cavolinioidea (H. and A. Adams, 1854) belong to the sea butterflies of the infraorder Euthecosomata. ... Families Cavoliniidae Clioidae Creseidae Cuvierinidae Praecuvierinidae The superfamily Cavolinioidea (H. and A. Adams, 1854) belong to the sea butterflies of the infraorder Euthecosomata. ... Families Peraclididae Cymbuliidae Desmopteridae In this suborder Pseudothecosomata of sea butterflies some groups possess a shell, some are without, and others have developed a relatively tough gelatinous, cartilaginous internal structure so-called pseudo-conchs. The lateral and posterior foot lobes are joined as a ciliated proboscis that leads to the... Families Peraclididae Cymbuliidae Desmopteridae In this suborder Pseudothecosomata of sea butterflies some groups possess a shell, some are without, and others have developed a relatively tough gelatinous, cartilaginous internal structure so-called pseudo-conchs. The lateral and posterior foot lobes are joined as a ciliated proboscis that leads to the... Families Peraclididae Cymbuliidae Desmopteridae In this suborder Pseudothecosomata of sea butterflies some groups possess a shell, some are without, and others have developed a relatively tough gelatinous, cartilaginous internal structure so-called pseudo-conchs. The lateral and posterior foot lobes are joined as a ciliated proboscis that leads to the...

Sea butterflies, or flapping snails, are holoplanktonic mollusks (Mollusca, Gasteropoda), belonging to the suborder Thecosomata (Blainville, 1824). Holoplanktonic means that they are living in the water column between bottom and surface. Classes Caudofoveata Aplacophora Polyplacophora - Chitons Monoplacophora Bivalvia - Bivalves Scaphopoda - Tusk shells Gastropoda - Snails and Slugs Cephalopoda - Squids, Octopuses, etc. ... Classes Caudofoveata Aplacophora Polyplacophora - Chitons Monoplacophora Bivalvia - Bivalves Scaphopoda - Tusk shells Gastropoda - Snails and Slugs Cephalopoda - Squids, Octopuses, etc. ... Subclass Subclass Eogastropoda     Patellogastropoda Subclass Orthogastropoda   Superorder Cocculiniformia   Superorder Hot Vent Taxa     Neomphaolida   Superorder Vetigastropoda   Superorder Neritaemorphi     Neritopsina   Superorder Caenogastropoda     Architaenioglossa     Sorbeoconcha   Superorder Heterobranchia     Heterostropha     Opisthobranchia     Pulmonata The gastropods, or univalves, are the largest and most successful class of mollusks, with 60,000-75,000 species, and second largest class... Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville (September 12, 1777 - May 1, 1850) was a French zoologist and anatomist. ...

This a rather young group, having evolved from the Late Paleocene in the Cenozoic Era. The Paleocene epoch (65-56 MYA) (early dawn of the recent) is the first geologic epoch of the Palaeogene period in the modern Cenozoic era. ... The Cenozoic or Cainozoic era (sometimes Caenozoic Era) is the most recent of the four classic geological eras. ...

They float freely in the water, along with the currents. This has led to a number of adaptations in their bodies. The shell and the gill have disappeared in several families. Their foot has taken the form of two wing-like lobes, or parapodia, which propel this little animal through the sea by slow flapping movements. At times, they just float along, ventral-side up, with the currents. They are rather difficult to observe, since the shells are mostly colorless, very fragile and usually less than 1 cm in length. Their calcareous shells are bilateral symmetrical and can vary widely in shape: coiled, needle-like, triangular, globulous. In computing, WinG (pronounced Win Gee) was an API to provide fast graphics performance on Windows 3. ...

Little is known about the biology of sea butterflies. They have a peculiar way of feeding. They are mostly passive plankton feeders, but at times they can be real hunters. They entangle planktonic food, through a mucous web, than can be up to 5 cm wide, many times larger than themselves. If disturbed, they dump the net and flap slowly away. When descending to deeper water, they hold their wings up. Sometimes, they swarm in large numbers in flotsam along the coast of eastern Australia. Photomontage of plankton organisms Plankton are the weakly swimming but mostly drifting small organisms that inhabit the water column of the ocean, seas, and bodies of freshwater. ...

Every day, they migrate vertically in the water column, following their planktonic prey. At night they hunt at the surface and return to deeper water in the morning.

They also used to be called pteropods. This term, however, is applied to the suborder Thecosomata as well as to the suborder Gymnosomata. Mollusks of the suborder Thecosomata have a shell, while the Gymnosomata lack a shell. Families Clionidae Cliopsidae Hermaeidae Hydromylidae Laginiopsidae Notobranchaeidae Pneumodermatidae Thliptodontidae Sea angels are small pteropod mollusks of the suborder Gymnosomata. ...

Taxonomy

Thecosomata de Blainville, 1824

• Infraorder Euthecosomata
  • Superfamily Limacinoidea
    • Family Limacinidae de Blainville, 1823
  • Superfamily Cavolinioidea
    • Family Cavoliniidae H. and A. Adams, 1854
    • Family Clioidae
    • Family Creseidae
    • Family Cuvierinidae
    • Family Praecuvierinidae
• Infraorder Pseudothecosomata
  • Superfamily Peraclidoidea
    • Family Peraclididae C.W. Johnson, 1915
  • Superfamily Cymbulioidea
    • Family Cymbuliidae Gray, 1840
    • Family Desmopteridae Dall, 1921

Families Peraclididae Cymbuliidae Desmopteridae In this suborder Pseudothecosomata of sea butterflies some groups possess a shell, some are without, and others have developed a relatively tough gelatinous, cartilaginous internal structure so-called pseudo-conchs. The lateral and posterior foot lobes are joined as a ciliated proboscis that leads to the... John Edward Gray (February 12, 1800 - March 7, 1875) was a British zoologist. ... William Healey Dall, (August 21, 1845 - March 27, 1927), was a great American naturalist and a prominent malacologist. ...

Reference

• A.W.H. Bé and R.W. Gilmer. 1977. A zoogeographic and taxonomic review of euthecosomatous pteropoda. Pp. 733-808 In: Oceanic Micropaleontology, Vol. 1. A.T.S. Ramsey (ed.). Academic Press, London.
• S. van der Spoel, 1967. Euthecosomata, a group with remarkable developmental stages (Gastropoda, Pteropoda). Gorinchem (J. Noorduijn)(thesis University of Amsterdam):375 pp., 17 tabs, 366 figs
• S. van der Spoel, 1976. Pseudothecosomata, Gymnosomata and Heteropoda (Gastropoda). Utrecht (Bohn, Scheltema & Holkema): 484 pp., 246 figs.
• Cainozoic Research, 2(1-2): 163-170, 2003: regarding the raising of ranks.