Planaxidae

Planaxidae
Temporal range: Cretaceous(?)[1] - Recent
An apertural view of a shell of Hinea brasiliana.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Caenogastropoda

clade Sorbeoconcha

Superfamily: Cerithioidea
Family: Planaxidae
Gray, 1850
Diversity[2]
About 30–40 extant species

Planaxidae, common name planaxids or clusterwinks, are a taxonomic family of small and minute sea snails, pantropical marine gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Cerithoidea. They are found on rocky shores in the littoral zone of the tropics and subtropics.[3]

Characteristics

Members of the family Planaxidae are known as clusterwinks because of their habit of clustering together in concealed, moist locations when the tide is out. They have conical shells resembling periwinkles, except for the fact that the clusterwinks have wide, shallow anterior canals. Another characteristic is the fact that they brood their embryos in a brood chamber situated behind the head, and release them into the sea as veliger larvae to form part of the plankton.[3]

Subfamilies

The following two subfamilies are recognized in the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005):

Genera

The family Planaxidae comprises the following recent (as opposed to fossil) genera:[4] The following genera are recognised: Planaxinae

Fossarinae

Genera brought into synonymy

References

  1. Mahmoud, L.G. Etudes paleontologiques sur la fauna Cretacique du Massif du Moghara (Sinai-Egypte). Publications de I'Institut du Desert d'Egypte 8, 1956
  2. Strong E. E., Colgan D. J., Healy J. M., Lydeard C., Ponder W. F. & Glaubrecht M. (2011). "Phylogeny of the gastropod superfamily Cerithioidea using morphology and molecules". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 162(1): 43-89. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2010.00670.x.
  3. 1 2 Beechey, Des (2008). "Family Planaxidae". The Seashells of New South Wales. Retrieved 2014-12-21.
  4. Houbrick R. S. (1987). "Anatomy, Reproductive Biology, and Phylogeny of the Planaxidae (Cerithiacea: Prosobranchia)". Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 445.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Planaxidae.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, January 07, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.