Bullinidae

Bullinidae
A live individual of Bullina lineata
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Heterobranchia
informal group Lower Heterobranchia
Superfamily: Acteonoidea
Family: Bullinidae
Gray, 1850
Type genus
Bullina
Férussac, 1822
Synonyms

Nonacteoninidae Bandel, 1994 Sulcoactaeonidae Gründel, 1997

Bullinidae is a taxonomic family of small sea snails or bubble snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Acteonoidea.

Synonyms for this family are Nonacteoninidae Bandel, 1994 and Sulcoactaeonidae Gründel, 1997.

The original spelling was "Bullinadae". This family was declared to be a separate family by William B. Rudman in 1972.[1]

Shell description

The shells have a large aperture, which is rounded at the outer lip. The shells usually have striking markings.

Ecology

Habitat

These gastropods live in the intertidal to sublittoral waters of tropical and subtropical seas.

Life habits

The mantle can be retracted completely into the shell, but the operculum is too small to cover the opening. These snails regurgitate their meals when attempting to retract into their shells.

Further treatment under Acteonoidea and Cephalaspidea.

Genera

Genera within the family Bullinidae include:

References

  1. Rudman W. B. (1972) "Studies on the primitive opisthobranch genera Bullina Férussac and Micromelo Pilsbry". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 51(2): 105-19, 8 figs. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1972.tb00776.x.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bullinidae.
Wikispecies has information related to: Bullinidae
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, October 29, 2012. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.