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Wikipedia / Caecidae

Caecidae is a taxonomic family of minute sea snails or micromolluscs, marine gastropod molluscs in the order Littorinimorpha.

Habitat

These minute tubular shells can be found living in marine sediment, or among algae or sponges, in warm and temperate seas.

Shell description

The shells in this family are unusual in that the adult shell is a curving tube. In the subfamily Caecinae the protoconch is lost, and the tube is sealed with a permanent calcareous plug at one end. In the subfamilies Ctiloceratinae and Strebloceratinae the protoconch is retained. At the other end, the tube is sealed by a circular operculum. The spiral part is almost always lost when outgrowing the juvenile stage. The color of the shell is white to pale yellow.

Taxonomy

This family contains three subfamilies:

Genera

WoRMS lists the following genera:

Caecinae

Ctiloceratinae

Strebloceratinae

Genera brought into synonymy

  • Brochina Gray, 1857: synonym of Caecum Fleming, 1813

  • Brochus T. Brown, 1827: synonym of Caecum Fleming, 1813

  • Caecalium J. Fleming, 1822: synonym of Caecum Fleming, 1813

  • Carinocera Iredale & Laseron, 1957: synonym of Ctiloceras R. B. Watson, 1886

  • Coecum: synoym of Caecum Fleming, 1813 (misspelling)

  • Cornuoides T. Brown, 1827: synonym of Caecum Fleming, 1813

  • Elephantanellum Bartsch, 1920: synonym of Caecum Fleming, 1813

  • Elephantellum: misspelling of Elephantanellum, synonym of Caecum Fleming, 1813

  • Fartulum P. P. Carpenter, 1857: synonym of Caecum Fleming, 1813

  • Gladioceras Iredale & Laseron, 1957 synonym of Parastrophia de Folin, 1869

  • Micranellum Bartsch 1900: synonym of Caecum Fleming, 1813

  • Mioceras Cossmann, 1912: synonym of Meioceras Carpenter, 1859

  • Moreletia de Folin, 1869: synonym of Parastrophia de Folin, 1869

  • Odontidium Philippi, 1836: synonym of Caecum Fleming, 1813

  • Pedumicra Iredale & Laseron, 1957: synonym of Parastrophia de Folin, 1869

  • Phleboceras de Folin, 1868: synonym of Strebloceras Carpenter, 1859

  • Pictocaecum Habe 1978: synonym of Caecum Fleming, 1813

  • Spirolidium O. G. Costa, 1861: synonym of Parastrophia de Folin, 1869

  • Torresella Iredale & Laseron, 1957/: synonym of Ctiloceras R. B. Watson, 1886

  • Transcopia Iredale & Laseron, 1957: synonym of Ctiloceras R. B. Watson, 1886

  • Watsonia de Folin, 1880: synonym of Parastrophia de Folin, 1869

References

  • Folin L. de (1875)

  • Vaught, K.C. (1989). A classification of the living Mollusca. American Malacologists: Melbourne, FL (USA). . XII, 195 pp

  • Bouchet P. & Rocroi J.-P. (2005). Classification and nomenclator of gastropod families. Malacologia 47(1-2): 1–397

  • Pizzini M., Raines B. & Vannozzi A. (2013) The family Caecidae in the South-West Pacific (Gastropoda: Rissooidea). Bollettino Malacologico, 49 (suppl. 10): 1-78.

  • WoRMS : Caecidae; accessed : 18 October 2010

  • Powell A. W. B., New Zealand Mollusca, William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979