Lepetodrilus sp. East Scotia Ridge

Lepetodrilus sp. East Scotia Ridge
Lepetodrilus sp. from East Scotia Ridge on carapace of large individual of Kiwa sp.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
(unranked):	clade Vetigastropoda
Superfamily:	Lepetodriloidea
Family:	Lepetodrilidae
Genus:	Lepetodrilus
Species:	L. sp. East Scotia Ridge
Binomial name
Lepetodrilus sp. East Scotia Ridge

Lepetodrilus sp. East Scotia Ridge (nomen nudum) is an as yet undescribed species of small, deep-sea sea snail, a hydrothermal vent limpet, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Lepetodrilidae.

The first information about this species, under the name "Lepetodrilus n. sp.", was published on 3 January 2012.

This species is known from two sites near hydrothermal vents in the East Scotia Ridge: from 2,394 m depth at the E9 vent site, and from 2,608 m depth at the E2 site.

Phylogenetic analysis of the mitochondrial (COI) gene of this limpet (GenBank accession number JN628254) and a range of other Lepetodrilus species, using Bayesian inference, places this species from East Scotia Ridge as a sister taxon to Lepetodrilus atlanticus, with a sequence divergence from this species of 5.48%. This level of genetic divergence is consistent with that found between Lepetodrilus species within complexes of sister taxa, where interspecific distances of between 3% and 15% have been observed.

This species is ubiquitous in low-temperature diffuse flow, being found on bare rock, sulphides, Kiwa sp., gastropods Gigantopelta chessoia, and stalked barnacles. On the carapace of Kiwa n. sp., a "halo" of pale colouration surrounding the limpets indicates where this species of Lepetodrilus is grazing epizoic microbes.

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