Pteropoda

By Siebrecht van der Spoel and José R. Dadon

Pteropoda are planktonic mollusks of the Order Thecosomata (with shell) and the Order Gymnosomata (without shell). Seventy-four species are recorded from the South Atlantic and are dealt with in this chapter.

Contents
Pt. 1 Introduction
Pt. 2 Sampling
Pt. 3 Preservation and collections
Pt. 4 World wide distribution patterns
Pt. 5 Vertical patterns and migration
Pt. 6 Distribution in the South Atlantic
Pt. 7 Variation
Pt. 8 Suggested reading

Identification
There is no key available, identification of species must be done by comparing diagnoses of the taxa.

Species
See Order Thecosomata and Order Gymnosomata and lower, for pteropods in the Higher taxa module. On both pages there is also a list of South Atlantic species.

For the species, subspecies and forms, see the Species module from Limacina helicina to Spongiobranchaea intermedia.