Johnson, S. B., Waren, A., Lee, R. W., Kano, Y., Kaim, A., Davis, A., Strong, Ellen E., and Vrijenhoek, R. C. 2010. "Rubyspira, New Genus and Two New Species of Bone-Eating Deep-Sea Snails With Ancient Habits." Biological Bulletin, 219, (2) 166–177.
Rubyspira, a new genus of deep-sea snails (Gastropoda: Abyssochrysoidea) with two living species, derives its nutrition from decomposing whalebones. Molecular phylogenetic and morphological evidence places the new genus in an exclusively deep-sea assemblage that includes several close relatives previously known as fossils associated with Cretaceous cold seeps, plesiosaur bones, and Eocene whalebones. The ability to exploit a variety of marine reducing environments may have contributed to the evolutionary longevity of this gastropod lineage.
