The Athleta species is a genus of marine snail – and falls within the gastropod class of molluscs. The Athleta species are within the Volutidae family of Gastropods – a class of predatory sea snails.
We have a reasonably complete fossil record of this type of shell, allowing for the creation of a widely accepted evolutionary history – placing the first appearance of these sea snails in the Early Cretaceous period. This historic species – first emerging over 100 million years ago – still exists today.
