Nassariidae
Nassariidae | ||||||||||||
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![]() Nassarius fossatus , Monterey, California |
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Systematics | ||||||||||||
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Scientific name | ||||||||||||
Nassariidae | ||||||||||||
Iredale , 1916 (1835) |
The Nassariidae are a family of small to medium-sized, mostly marine snails that are found in all oceans. The representatives of the family are predominantly scavengers , which mostly occur in shallow water areas, in some cases also at greater depths.
features
The right-hand wound, solid, egg-shaped to spherical housings have a conical thread, an oval housing mouth and a siphon channel turned backwards. They are 4 to 75 mm tall. The outer lip can be thickened and toothed. The operculum is horny and triangular to oval.
Way of life, occurrence and distribution
The Nassariidae are distributed worldwide in all tropical and temperate seas, to a lesser extent in inland waters of Africa and Asia . The family has the greatest biodiversity in the Indo-Pacific . They live in the marine environment to a depth of around 1250 meters. In the North Sea and the Baltic Sea , the family is represented by the net reus snail . The Asian and African genus Clea is an exception in the family, as it includes freshwater species such as the robbery tower snail ( Clea helena ).
Most of the Nassariidae species are scavengers.
Systematics
According to Bouchet and Rocroi (2005), the Nassariidae family is one of six families in the superfamily Buccinoidea . They divide the Nassariidae family into four subfamilies:
- Nassariinae Iredale, 1916 (1835)
- Bullinae Allmon, 1990
- Cylleninae L. Bellardi, 1882
- Dorsaninae Cossmann, 1901
literature
- Philippe Bouchet & Jean-Pierre Rocroi: Part 2. Working classification of the Gastropoda . Malacologia, 47: 239-283, Ann Arbor 2005 ISSN 0076-2997
- Winston Ponder & David Lindberg, Towards a phylogeny of gastropod molluscs; an analysis using morphological characters . Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 119: 83-265, London 1997 ISSN 0024-4082
- Frank Riedel: Origin and evolution of the "higher" Caenogastropoda . Berliner Geoscientific Abhandlungen, Series E, Volume 32, Berlin 2000, 240 pages, ISBN 3-89582-077-6 .