The Aciculidae are a

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

of minute

land snail A land snail is any of the numerous species of snail that live on land, as opposed to the sea snails and freshwater snails. ''Land snail'' is the common name for terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have shells (those without shells are known as ...

s which have opercula (an operculum is a little door that closes the shell when the animal retracts into it). In other words, Aciculidae are

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...

operculate

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

s. Even though Aciculidae are land snails, they live in rather wet conditions, among mosses and dead leaves and they have sometimes been described as " winkles come ashore".

Taxonomy

Previously this family was placed in the infraorder

Littorinimorpha Littorinimorpha is a large order of snails, gastropods, consisting primarily of sea snails ( marine species), but also including some freshwater snails ( aquatic species) and land snails (terrestrial species).Bouchet P. & Rocroi J.-P. (Ed.); Fr� ...

, in the suborder

Hypsogastropoda Hypsogastropoda is a clade containing marine gastropods within the clade Caenogastropoda. MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Hypsogastropoda. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=t ...

in the order

Sorbeoconcha Sorbeoconcha is a taxonomic clade of snails, i.e. gastropods, mainly marine species with gills and opercula, within the clade Caenogastropoda. The taxon Sorbeoconcha was named by Winston Ponder and David R. Lindberg in 1997. Taxonomy 1 ...

in the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Ponder & Lindberg (1997). The family Aciculidae is in the informal group

Architaenioglossa Architaenioglossa is a taxonomic group of snails which have gills and often an operculum. They are primarily land and freshwater gastropod mollusks within the clade Caenogastropoda. This " informal group" has been shown to be polyphyletic in a s ...

, belonging to the

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

Caenogastropoda Caenogastropoda is a taxonomic clade, a large diverse group which are mostly sea snails and other marine gastropod mollusks, but also includes some freshwater snails and some land snails. The clade is the most diverse and ecologically successfu ...

, (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005). This family has no subfamilies according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005. In the Taxonomy of the Gastropoda (Bouchet et al., 2017), it was placed under

Cyclophoroidea Cyclophoroidea is a superfamily of land snails with an operculum, terrestrial gastropods within the informal group Architaenioglossa, that belongs to the clade Caenogastropoda.Bouchet, P.; Rosenberg, G.; Gofas, S. (2015). Cyclophoroidea Gray, ...

Genera

Genera within the family Aciculidae include: * ''

Acicula Acicula (singular: aciculum) are strong, stout internal chaetae that provide support to parapodia In invertebrates, the term parapodium ( Gr. ''para'', beyond or beside + ''podia'', feet; plural: parapodia) refers to lateral outgrowths or protr ...

'' W. Hartmann, 1821 - the needle snail, type genus * ''

Menkia ''Menkia'' is a genus of gastropods belonging to the family Aciculidae. The species of this genus are found in Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mou ...

'' Boeters, E. Gittenberger & Subai, 1985 * ''

Platyla ''Platyla'' is a genus of very small land snails with an operculum, terrestrial gastropod mollusks or micromollusks in the family Aciculidae.MolluscaBase eds. (2022). MolluscaBase. Platyla Moquin-Tandon, 1856. Accessed through: World Register of ...

'' Moquin-Tandon, 1856 * ''

Renea The Department of Neutralization of Armed Elements () commonly known by its acronym RENEA, is the main Albanian counter-terrorist and critical incident response unit. The force was constituted in the early 1990s in response to the growing crime le ...

'' Nevill, 1880 * '' Cretatortulosa gignens'' 2020

References

* Horst Janus, 1965. ''The Young Specialist Looks at Land and Freshwater Molluscs'', Burke, London * Egorov, R. V., 2009, Kladovaja rakovin Rossii reasure of Russian shells Supplement 3. A review of the genera of the recent terrestrial pectinibranch molluscs (synopsis mainly based on published data). Part II, Littoriniformes. Hainesiidae, Aciculidae, Cyclophoridae, Craspedopomatidae. Moscow. 58 pp Gastropod families Taxa named by John Edward Gray {{Aciculidae-stub