Acus [SEP] parent taxon
Acus
Acus is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Terebridae, the auger snails.
The genus name "Acus" belongs to the Pisces. Therefore "Acus" Gray, 1847 is no longer accepted, since it is a junior homonym of "Acus" Lacépède, 1803. Its accepted name is now "Oxymeris" Dall, 1903.
Description.
Whorls simple, aperture elongate, columella simple and thickened, subsutural band present, often ornamented.
Species.
- Species
on southerly and westerly coasts in a variety of habitats, often amongst seaweeds and seagrass.
"Syngnathus temminckii".
The southern African species "Syngnathus temminckii" was until recently synonymised with "S. acus". However, morphological data clearly show that it is distinct, and genetic data indicate that it is not even the sister taxon of "S. acus", but of another southern African species, the river pipefish "S. watermeyeri" (Mwale et al., in press).
Bibliography.
- Bent