Animals Described in 2001 - Scaly-Foot Gastropod, Giant Huntsman Spider, Pygmy Three-Toed Sloth, Bukidnon Woodcock, Kalimantsia, Lampocteis (Paperback)

Chapters: Scaly-Foot Gastropod, Giant Huntsman Spider, Pygmy Three-Toed Sloth, Bukidnon Woodcock, Kalimantsia, Lampocteis, Tanichthys Micagemmae, Crysomallon, Perbrinckia Morayensis, Palfuria Caputlari, Palfuria Spirembolus, Perbrinckia Quadratus, Pastilla Dacuna, Palfuria Harpago, Palfuria Helichrysorum, Perbrinckia Fido, Palfuria Gladiator, Palfuria Hirsuta, Ceylonthelphusa Nata, Ceylonthelphusa Orthos, Mahatha Iora, Mahatha Adonis, Erythrosquilla Hamano, Clinothelphusa Kakoota, Dolichognatha Erwini, Dolichognatha Kampa, Dolichognatha Mapia, Dolichognatha Pinheiral. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 83. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Crysomallon squamiferum, common name the scaly-foot gastropod, is a species of deep sea hydrothermal vent snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Peltospiridae. This species was discovered in 2001 on the bases of black smokers at the Kairei hydrothermal vent field, on the Central Indian Ridge, just north of the Rodrigues Triple Point; about 2420 meters below the surface. The snail's foot is armored with iron-mineral scales. It is protected by scale-shaped sclerites composed of the iron sulfides greigite and pyrite. No other animal is known to use iron sulfides in this way. The snail's shell is unusual in that its structure is composed of three layers. The outer layer is made of the aforementioned iron sulfides, containing greigite Fe3S4 about 30 m thick. This makes this gastropod the only metazoan, known so far, to employ this material in its skeleton. The middle layer is organic, and is also the thickest of the three (about 150 m). It is comparable to the periostracum, a thin protein coating found on other snail shells. The innermost layer is made of aragonite, a calcium mineral that is found in the shells of mollusks and various corals. ...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=1736712