About Alviniconcha marisindica

The deep-sea paskentanid snail Alviniconcha marisindica is a deep-sea gastropod inhabited in hydrothermal vents of the Indo-Pacific. It belongs to superfamily Abyssochrysoidea. And it is only Alviniconcha species found in the Indian Ocean, named by T. Okutani for the latin name for Indian Sea. Found specifically at vent sites on the Central Indian Ridge ranging from 2,400 to 330 m (7,870 to 1,080 ft) in depth. Hosts epsilon-proteobacterial endosymbionts.

Animalia (Kingdom); Mollusca (Phylum); Gastropoda (Class); Caenogastropoda (Subclass); Caenogastropoda incertae sedis (Order); Abyssochrysoidea (Superfamily); Paskentanidae (Family); Alviniconchinae (Subfamily); Alviniconcha (Genus); Alviniconcha marisindica (Species)

Alviniconcha marisindica Okutani, 2014

1. Johnson S B, Warén A, Tunnicliffe V, et al. Molecular taxonomy and naming of five cryptic species of Alviniconcha snails (Gastropoda: Abyssochrysoidea) from hydrothermal vents[J]. Systematics and Biodiversity, 2015, 13(3): 278-295. (Johnson et al, 2014)

The species differs from all other Alviniconcha species by the following combination of character states of its mitochondrial COI barcode: 155A, 245A, 272A, 293A, 296G, 626C, 632C. It also is distinct from all other Alviniconcha species for 18S rRNA: 204T; 12S mt RNA: 34T and 283T; and 16S mt RNA: 234G, 240G, 243A, 253gap, 254A, 267gap, 279T, 316C, 430T, 459T. No reliable conclusions about morphological differences could be drawn from our material.

Latin adjective (maris = sea; indica = Indian) for the geographical type locality, as originally suggested by T. Okutani

Only known from hydrothermal vent localities at 2400 to 3300 m depths on Central Indian Ridge, in the Indian Ocean: Kairei and Edmunds vent fields