Barleeiidae (often also spelled Barleeidae) is a family of small sea snails,

micromollusk A micromollusc is a shelled mollusc which is extremely small, even at full adult size. The word is usually, but not exclusively, applied to marine molluscs, although in addition, numerous species of land snails and freshwater molluscs also ...

s in the clade

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

.Gofas S. (1995). A remarkable species richness of the Barleeidae (Gastropoda: Rissoacea) in the Eastern Atlantic. The Nautilus 109(1): 14-37 These snails are very abundant and live in

sublittoral The littoral zone, also called litoral or nearshore, is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely in ...

and

intertidal The intertidal zone or foreshore is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide; in other words, it is the part of the littoral zone within the tidal range. This area can include several types of habitats with various sp ...

waters on rocky substrates. The shells are conical to high- spired. Their inner shell layer is

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ous. They are further characterized by a foot with sometimes a posterior mucous gland. Their olfactory organ, the

osphradium The osphradium is a pigmented chemosensory epithelium patch in the mantle cavity present in six of the eight extant classes of molluscs (it is absent in the Scaphopoda and Monoplacophora; most Cephalopoda also lack it, but the nautilus has what a ...

is enlarged. In some species there are oesophageal pouches present. Their

penis A penis (; : penises or penes) is a sex organ through which male and hermaphrodite animals expel semen during copulation (zoology), copulation, and through which male placental mammals and marsupials also Urination, urinate. The term ''pen ...

is sometimes provided with prostatic tissue. Their

oviduct The oviduct in vertebrates is the passageway from an ovary. In human females, this is more usually known as the fallopian tube. The eggs travel along the oviduct. These eggs will either be fertilized by spermatozoa to become a zygote, or will dege ...

glands show a simple

histology Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology that studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissue (biology), tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at large ...

. Few

malacologist Malacology, from Ancient Greek μαλακός (''malakós''), meaning "soft", and λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca (molluscs or mollusks), the second-largest ...

s are currently working on

s. Since they are so small (only a few millimeters in size), they are difficult to study and classify. Therefore, these small mollusks are less well known than the larger ones.

Genera

Genera in the family Baleeiidae include: *''

Ansola Antonio Ansola Arrieta (17 January 1931 – 2 December 2013) was a Spanish footballer who played as a defender. He played 141 football games for Real Sociedad mostly during the 1950s. He would end his career at Elche CF Elche Club de Fútb ...

'' Slavoschevskaya, 1975 *''

Barleeia ''Barleeia'', or the barleysnails, is a genus of very small sea snails. They are marine gastropod micromollusks in the family Barleeiidae. These snails are usually only a couple of millimeters in length.MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Ba ...

Clark Clark is an English language surname with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland, ultimately derived from the Latin ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educated ...

, 1853 - Barleysnails *''

Caelatura ''Caelatura'' is a genus of minute sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks or micromollusks in the family Barleeiidae Barleeiidae (often also spelled Barleeidae) is a family of small sea snails, micromollusks in the clade Littorinimorpha.Gofas ...

Conrad Conrad may refer to: People * Conrad (name) * Saint Conrad (disambiguation) Places United States * Conrad, Illinois, an unincorporated community * Conrad, Iowa, a city * Conrad, Montana, a city * Conrad Glacier, Washington Elsewher ...

, 1853 *'' Fictonoba'' Ponder, 1967 *'' Ketosia'' Dos Santos & Absalao, 2006WoRMS (2009). ''Ketosia''. Accessed through the World Register of Marine Species at http://marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=391637 on 2010-09-16 *''

Lirobarleeia ''Lirobarleeia'' is a genus of minute sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks or micromollusks in the family Barleeiidae. Species Species within the genus ''Lirobarleeia'' include: *'' Lirobarleeia albolirata'' (Carpenter, 1864) *'' Lirobarleeia ...

'' Ponder, 1983 *'' Protobarleeia'' Ponder, 1983 *'' Pseudodiala'' Ponder, 1967 *'' Tropidorissoia'' Tomlin & Shackleford, 1915

References

''Ponder W. F. (1983). Review of the genera of the Barleeidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Rissoacea)''. Records of the Australian Museum 35: 231-281
* Vaught, K.C. (1989). ''A classification of the living Mollusca''. American Malacologists: Melbourne, FL (USA). . XII, 195 pp.
Gofas S. (1995). ''A remarkable species richness of the Barleeidae (Gastropoda: Rissoacea) in the Eastern Atlantic.'' The Nautilus 109(1): 14-37

External links

Taxonomy
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3171211 Taxa named by John Edward Gray