Sphincterochilidae is a taxonomic

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

of medium-sized air-breathing land snails,

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 ...

pulmonate gastropod

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is es ...

s in the superfamily

Helicoidea Helicoidea is a taxonomic superfamily of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the clade Stylommatophora. Taxonomy 2005 taxonomy There are 19 families within the superfamily Helicoidea according to the taxonom ...

(according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005). In the

fossil record A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

, Sphincterochilidae are known from the upper

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...

to the

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...

."Family summary for Sphincterochilidae"

AnimalBase AnimalBase is a project brought to life in 2004 and is maintained by the University of Göttingen, Germany. The goal of the AnimalBase project is to digitize early zoological literature, provide copyright-free open access to zoological works, and p ...

, last modified 27 August 2005, accessed 10 April 2009.

Distribution

The distribution of Sphincterochilidae includes the western-

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Si ...

zone.Hausdorf B. (2000). "Biogeography of the Limacoidea sensu lato (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora): Vicariance Events and Long-Distance Dispersal". ''

Journal of Biogeography The ''Journal of Biogeography'' is a Peer review, peer-reviewed scientific journal in biogeography that was established in 1974. It covers aspects of spatial, ecological, and historical biogeography. The founding editor-in-chief was David Watts (b ...

'' 27(2): 379-390.
JSTOR

Taxonomy

The following two

subfamilies In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

have been recognized in the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005): * subfamily Sphincterochilinae Zilch, 1960 (1910) - synonyms: Calcarinidae Pallary, 1909 (inv.); Albeidae Pallary, 1910. Sphincterochilidae is a

conserved name A conserved name or ''nomen conservandum'' (plural ''nomina conservanda'', abbreviated as ''nom. cons.'') is a scientific name that has specific nomenclatural protection. That is, the name is retained, even though it violates one or more rules whic ...

to take the priority of Leucochroidae Westerlund, 1886. * subfamily † Pseudoleptaxinae H. Nordsieck, 1986

Genera

Genera within the family Sphincterochilidae include: Sphincterochilinae * † '' Asensidea'' Calzada, 2003 * '' Sphincterochila'' Ancey, 1887 - type genus of the family Sphincterochilidae † Pseudoleptaxinae * † '' Dentellocaracolus'' Oppenheim, 1890 * † '' Fridolinia'' Pilsbry, 1895 † * † '' Pseudoleptaxis'' Pilsbry, 1895Tryon G. W. & Pilsbry H. A. (1894). ''

Manual of Conchology George Washington Tryon Jr. (20 May 1838 – 5 February 1888) was an American malacologist who worked at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. Biography George Washington Tryon was the son of Edward K. Tryon and Adeline Savidt. ...

'' (2)9
294
- type genus o the subfamily Pseudoleptaxinae * † '' Wenzia'' Pfeffer, 1930

Ecology

Sphincterochilidae land snails are xerothermophilous, i.e. they are well adapted to hot, arid places.

References

* Bank, R. A. (2017). Classification of the Recent terrestrial Gastropoda of the World. Last update: July 16th, 2017.

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15727507