// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did Proxiuber say to its friend? "You're prox-imately perfect.
| Proxiuber Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Proxiuber australe | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Subclass: | Caenogastropoda |
| Order: | Littorinimorpha |
| Family: | Naticidae |
| Genus: | Proxiuber A. W. B. Powell, 1933 |
| Type species | |
| Lunatia australis F. W. Hutton, 1878 | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
| |
Proxiuber is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Naticidae, the moon shells.[2] The genus is endemic to New Zealand, with fossils dating back to the early Eocene, found in primarily in New Zealand, with one fossil species in Australia.
Description
[edit]Members of the genus have small, solid shells, open umbilicus, and almost no funicle. Protoconches are smooth, pauciscpiral and have a large nucleus, while the operculums are smooth, shelly and have two weak marginal grooves. The radula have a tricuspid central tooth.[3] The protoconches have an flattened knob at the tip, while the funicle is either obsolete or close to being obsolete, and radula have tricuspid central marginals and bifid inner marginals.[4]
Taxonomy
[edit]The genus was first described by A. W. B. Powell in 1933.[4] Powell named Lunatia australis (now Proxiuber australe) as the type species of the genus.[4]
Distribution
[edit]Proxiuber is endemic to New Zealand.[5] Most fossil species date to the Pliocene and early Pleistocene of New Zealand, with the oldest known fossil species, Proxiuber platamodes, dating to the Waipawan stage of the early Eocene, c. 56 million years ago.[6] One fossil species is known from Australia, P. microsculptum, dating to the Miocene of South Australia.[1][7]
Species
[edit]Species within the genus Proxiuber include:[2]
- †Proxiuber anteaustrale A. W. B. Powell, 1938
- †Proxiuber astrictum Marwick, 1965
- Proxiuber australe (F. W. Hutton, 1878)
- Proxiuber hulmei A. W. B. Powell, 1954
- †Proxiuber kaawaense (Marwick, 1924)
- †Proxiuber microsculptum Ludbrook, 1958
- †Proxiuber platamodes F. J. Finlay & Marwick, 1937
References
[edit]- 1 2 "Proxiuber Powell 1933 (moon snail)". Paleobiology Database. Retrieved 2 March 2026.
- 1 2 Proxiuber A. W. B. Powell, 1933. 2 March 2026. Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species.
- ↑ Powell, A.W.B. (1979). New Zealand Mollusca: Marine, Land and Freshwater Shells. Auckland: Collins. p. 155. ISBN 0002169061.
- 1 2 3 Powell, A. W. B. (1934). "Notes on the Taxonomy of the Recent Cymatiidæ and Naticidæ of New Zealand" (PDF). Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 63: 154–168. ISSN 1176-6158. Wikidata Q89182252.
- ↑ "Proxiuber (Genus)". Collections Online. Te Papa. Retrieved 2 March 2026.
- ↑ Maxwell, P.A. (2009). "Cenozoic Mollusca". In Gordon, D.P. (ed.). New Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity. Volume one. Kingdom Animalia: Radiata, Lophotrochozoa, Deuterostomia. Christchurch: Canterbury University Press. p. 243. ISBN 978-1-877257-72-8.
- ↑ Ludbrook, N. H. (1958). "The molluscan fauna of the Pliocene strata underlying the Adelaide plains. Part V-Gastropoda (Eratoidae-Scaphandridae)". Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, Incorporated. 81: 49 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.