Helicinidae is a

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

of small tropical

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 molluscs, terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have gastropod shell, shel ...

s, terrestrial operculate

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

mollusk Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The ...

s in the superfamily

Helicinoidea Helicinoidea is a taxonomic superfamily of land snails that have an operculum. In other words, they are terrestrial operculate gastropod mollusks. They are in the order Cycloneritida and are quite closely related to the marine and freshwater ...

Name

These snails are not at all closely related to the air-breathing land snails, despite a superficial similarity of the shells. The name "Helicinidae" immediately reminds most people of "

Helicidae Helicidae is a large, diverse family of western Palaearctic, medium to large-sized, air-breathing land snails, sometimes called the "typical snails." It includes some of the largest European land snails, several species are common in anthropoge ...

", the most well-known group of land snails including e.g. ''

Helix pomatia ''Helix pomatia'', known as the Roman snail, Burgundy snail, or escargot, is a species of large, air-breathing stylommatophoran land Snails, snail native to Europe. It is characterized by a globular brown shell. It is an edible species which comm ...

'', but the important two letters "ni" only from the Latin diminutive of the latter name alluding to superficial similarities of otherwise completely different things. Geophorus_romblonensis

Distribution

These snails are found in tropical and subtropical areas but they have an odd distribution: they are restricted to the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

islands and some

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

and Pacific islands, as well as the edge of the

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

n and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n continents. Some species are found in the southern United States, from Louisiana to Florida; others in Central and South America.

Taxonomy

Helicinidae belongs to superfamily

according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005). This family consists of six following subfamilies (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005): * Helicininae Férussac, 1822 - synonym: Olygyridae Gray, 1847; Bourcierinae Paetel, 1890 * Ceratodiscinae Pilsbry, 1927 * † Dimorphoptychiinae Wenz, 1938 * Hendersoniinae H. B. Baker, 1926 * Stoastomatinae C. B. Adams, 1849 * Vianinae H. B. Baker, 1922

Genera

Genera within the family Helicinidae include: Subfamily Helicininae * '' Alcadia'' Gray, 1840 * '' Aphanoconia'' A. J. Wagner, 1905 * '' Bourciera'' Pfeiffer, 1852 * '' Ceochasma'' F. G. Thompson, 1968 * '' Ceratopoma'' Möllendorff, 1893 * '' Emoda'' Adams, 1856 * '' Glyptemoda'' Clench & Aguayo, 1950 * '' Helicina'' Lamarck, 1799 - type genus of the family Helicinidae * '' Hemipoma'' Wagner, 1905 * '' Kosmetopoma'' A. J. Wagner, 1905 * '' Negopenia'' Iredale, 1941 * '' Nesiocina'' Richling & Bouchet, 2013 * '' Ogasawarana'' Wagner, 1905 * '' Olygyra'' Say, 1818: synonym of '' Helicina'' Lamarck, 1799 (original rank) * '' Orobophana'' Wagner, 1905'' Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond.'' B (1998): 353, 347. * '' Palaeohelicina'' A. J. Wagner, 1905 * '' Pecoviana'' Iredale, 1941 * '' Pleuropoma'' Moellendorff, 1893 * '' Schasicheila'' Shuttleworth, 1852 * '' Stoastomops'' Baker, 1924 * '' Sturanya'' Wagner, 1905 * '' Sulfurina'' Möllendorff, 1893 subfamily Ceratodiscinae * '' Ceratodiscus'' Simpson & Henderson, 1901 - type genus of the subfamily Ceratodiscinae Subfamily † Dimorphoptychiinae * † '' Dimorphoptychia'' Sandberger, 1871 - type genus of the subfamily Dimorphoptychiinae Subfamily Hendersoniinae * '' Hendersonia'' A. J. Wagner, 1905 - type genus of the subfamily Hendersoniinae * '' Waldemaria'' Wagner, 1905 Subfamily Stoastomatinae * '' Stoastoma'' C. B. Adams, 1849 - type genus of the subfamily Stoastomatinae Subfamily Vianinae * '' Calidviana'' Baker, 1954 * '' Calybium'' Morelet, 1891 * '' Eutrochatella'' Fischer, 1885 * '' Geophorus'' Fischer, 1885 * '' Heudeia'' Crosse, 1885 * '' Lucidella'' Swainson, 1840 * '' Pseudotrochatella'' Nevill, 1881 * '' Pyrgodomus'' Fischer & Crosse, 1893 * '' Viana'' H. Adams & A. Adams, 1856 - type genus of the subfamily Vianinae Subfamily ? * '' Priotrochatella'' Fischer, 1893 * '' Semitrochatella'' Aguayo & Jaume, 1958 * '' Sturanyella'' Pilsbry & Cooke, 1934Mollusc Specialist Group (1996)
''Sturanyella carolinarum''
In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.1. . Downloaded on 17 June 2011. * '' Troschelviana'' Baker, 1922 * '' Ustronia'' Kobelt, 1908"Mollusca"
. Diversidad Biológica Cubana, accessed 23 March 2011.

References

* Richling I. (2001). "New species of Helicinidae from Costa Rica (Gastropoda: Neritopsina)". ''Schriften zur Malakozoologie'' 17: 1–8. Cismar. * Richling I. (2004). "Classification of the Helicinidae: Review of Morphological Characteristics Based on a Revision of the Costa Rican Species and Application to the Arrangement of the Central American Mainland Taxa (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Neritopsina)". '' Malacologica'' 45(2): 195–440. * Richling I. (2004). "Coloration in Helicinidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Neritopsina)". ''

Malacologia ''Malacologia'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal in the field of malacology, the study of mollusks. The journal publishes articles in the fields of molluscan systematics, ecology, population ecology, genetics, molecular genetics, evolution, an ...

'' 46(1): 217–224. * Richling I. (2005). "Biographical remarks on Dr. Antoni Józef Wagner and the collection of Helicinidae in the Museum and Institute of Zoology in Warszawa". ''Folia Malacologica'' 13(4): 197–206. * Richling I. & Glaubrecht M. (2008). "The types of Neotropical Helicinidae (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Neritopsina) in the Malacological Collection of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin: an annotated catalogue, with emphasis on Cuban land snails". ''

Zoosystematics and Evolution ''Zoosystematics and Evolution'' is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal covering zoological systematics and evolution. It was established in 1898 as and obtained its current title in 2008. The journal was established in 1898 and is publ ...

'' 84(2): 265–310. . * Richling I. (2009). "The Radiation of the Helicinidae in New Caledonia (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Neritopsina) including zoogeographical considerations". In: Grandcolas P. (ed.). "Zoologia Neocaledonica 7. Biodiversity studies in New Caledonia". ''Mémoires du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle'' 198: 247–372. Paris
abstract
species specific reading: * Richling I., Franke S., Fernánndez V. A. & Sigaretta V., S. (2007). "New data on the micro-land snails ''Eutrochatella'' (''Microviana'') ''spinopoma'' Aguayo 1943 and ''Eutrochatella'' (''Microviana'') ''holguinensis'' Aguayo 1932 (Neritopsina: Helicinidae) in the province of

Holguín Holguín (, ) is a municipality-city in Cuba. After Havana, Santiago de Cuba, and Camagüey, it is the List of cities in Cuba, fourth largest city in Cuba. History Before Christopher Columbus, Columbus, the Taino people settled in huts made fro ...

, eastern Cuba". ''Schriften zur Malakozoologie'' 23: 19–24. Cismar.

External links