Mulm needles

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Mulm needles
Smooth sludge needle (Platyla polita)

Smooth sludge needle ( Platyla polita )

Systematics
Subclass : Orthogastropoda
Subclass : Apogastropoda
Superordinate : Caenogastropoda
Order : Architaenioglossa
Superfamily : Cyclophoroidea
Family : Mulm needles
Scientific name
Aciculidae
JE Gray , 1850

The Mulmnadeln (Aciculidae), also called coniferous snails, are a land-living snail family from the order of the Architaenioglossa ( Caenogastropoda ). The family includes almost 70 recent, a total of over 80 species, which are native to Europe, North Africa and West Asia. The oldest forms come from the Eocene .

features

The right-hand winding cases are small to very small (1.5 to 6 millimeters long or high). The housing shape is usually cylindrical with a blunt tip. The surface of the housing is usually smooth and shiny, the color usually varies from light brown, yellow-brown to dark brown, sometimes also slightly reddish. The shell is thin and translucent to translucent. Growing strips and weak spiral and radial grooves are known in individual species. The seam is apparently double, as the seam from the previous handling shows through. Depending on the species, there are around five to seven whorls in the adult stage. The mouth is oval or pear-shaped and slightly pointed at the top. The edge is curved outwards, often with a distinct neck bulge. The horny operculum can be retracted relatively deep into the housing.

The body of the animals is usually light and pigmentless. A pair of long, thin antennae are attached to the head, as well as a well-extending, trunk-like snout. The radula has seven teeth per transverse row. The eyes sit on small bumps at the base of the antennae. The foot is very narrow and has no longitudinal division. The sexes are separate.

Occurrence and way of life

The representatives of the family are native to Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. Many species are very small and fragmented. Platyla procax has so far only been found in a single cave in Montenegro. They live mainly in forests under leaf litter, stone rubble, dead wood, in the ground or in caves. The striped sludge needle ( Acicula lineata ) occurs in the Swiss Alps up to an altitude of 1800 m. They feed primarily on the eggs of other species of snails.

Systematics and nomenclature

In deviation from the recommendations of Jungbluth and von Knorre (2008), who recommend the name needle snails, the common name Mulmnadeln is used (cf. Fechter & Falkner). The authors of the scientific website "Molluscs of Central Europe" even strongly advise against using the term coniferous snails for this family. The common German name Nadelschnecke (n) is also used for the Cerithiidae family living in the sea . The land-based blind snail ( Cecilioides acicula ) was sometimes referred to as a needle snail; Likewise, species of the marine genus Terebra were previously called coniferous snails.

The family of the needles (Aciculidae) currently comprises four genera and over 80 species.

The name of the taxon has a complicated nomenclature history behind it. Strictly speaking, Acicula Hartmann, 1821, is preoccupied by Acicula Renier, 1807 and would therefore be invalid (and the family name Aciculidae as well). Acicula Renier, 1807, however, was suppressed by a decision of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature and placed on the Official List of Rejected and Suppressed Names in Zoology. Accordingly, the family name Aciculidae was placed on the official list of family group names in zoology.

supporting documents

literature

  • HD Boeters, E. Gittenberger and P. Subai: The Aciculidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda Prosobranchia). Zoologische Verhandelingen, 252 (1): 1-230, 1989, ISSN  0024-1652
  • Rosina Fechter and Gerhard Falkner: molluscs. 287 pp., Mosaik-Verlag, Munich 1990 (Steinbach's Nature Guide 10), ISBN 3-570-03414-3
  • Michael P. Kerney, RAD Cameron & Jürgen H. Jungbluth: The land snails of Northern and Central Europe. 384 pp., Paul Parey, Hamburg & Berlin 1983, ISBN 3-490-17918-8
  • Jürgen H. Jungbluth and Dietrich von Knorre: Common names of land and freshwater mollusks in Germany (Gastropoda et Bivalvia). Mollusca, 26 (1): 105-156, Dresden 2008, ISSN  1864-5127 PDF

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Boeters et al. (1989: p. 21/2)
  2. ↑ Animal Base
  3. ^ Fechter & Falkner (1990: p. 126)
  4. ^ Molluscs of Central Europe
  5. ↑ Pierer's Universal Lexikon, Volume 11. Altenburg 1860, p. 640
  6. ↑ Animalbase - Family Aciculidae
  7. ↑ International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature: Opinion 344 Validation under the plenary powers of the generic name Truncatella Risso, 1826, and addition of that name and the names Acmaea Eschscholtz, 1833, and Acicula Hartmann, 1821 Class Gastropoda to the Official List of Generic Names in Zoology. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature, 10: 315-351, London 1955 Online at archive.org

Web links

Commons : Aciculidae  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files