The Helminthoglyptinae are a

subfamily 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 botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

of air-breathing

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 ...

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth, as opposed to extraterrestrial. 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 o ...

pulmonate Pulmonata or pulmonates is an informal group (previously an order, and before that, a subclass) of snails and slugs characterized by the ability to breathe air, by virtue of having a pallial lung instead of a gill, or gills. The group inclu ...

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 within the family

Xanthonychidae Xanthonychidae is a family (biology), family of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Helicoidea.MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Xanthonychidae Strebel & Pfeffer, 1879 ...

.MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Helminthoglyptinae Pilsbry, 1939. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=994962 on 2021-02-25 This is a large and diverse group of new world snails, ranging in distribution from

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

through

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

to the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

, and as far south as

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. The shells are typically of medium to large size, with no apertural teeth but usually with a reflected apertural lip.

Anatomy

In the species in this family, the

diverticulum In medicine or biology, a diverticulum is an outpouching of a hollow (or a fluid-filled) structure in the body. Depending upon which layers of the structure are involved, diverticula are described as being either true or false. In medicine, t ...

may be present or absent. They possess a single dart apparatus with one stylophore (dart sac) and two mucous glands. These snails use the

love dart A love dart (also known as a gypsobelum, shooting darts, or just as darts) is a sharp, calcium carbonate, calcareous or chitinous Dart (missile), dart which some hermaphroditic land snails and slugs create. Love darts are both formed and stor ...

as part of their mating behavior. In this subfamily, the number of

haploid Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell (biology), cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for Autosome, autosomal and Pseudoautosomal region, pseudoautosomal genes. Here ''sets of chromosomes'' refers to the num ...

chromosome A chromosome is a package of DNA containing part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes, the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with nucleosome-forming packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells, the most import ...

s lies between 26 and 30 (according to the values in this table).Barker G. M.: Gastropods on Land: ''Phylogeny, Diversity and Adaptive Morphology''. in Barker G. M. (ed.):
The biology of terrestrial molluscs
'. CABI Publishing, Oxon, UK, 2001, . 1-146, cited pages: 139 and 142.

Taxonomy

The basic nomenclature and taxonomy of this large and complex subfamily of land snails has been the subject of many modifications, and the list of genera given here is applicable only when the subfamily is broadly interpreted. Many of these snail genera have been placed by various authors in more restrictively defined families, such as: Cepolidae, Epiphragmophoridae,

Humboldtianidae Humboldtianinae is an subfamily of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Xanthonychidae. Taxonomy The subfamily Humboldtianinae consists of the following taxa: * Tribe Bunnyini H. Nordsieck, 1987 * ...

, Monadeniidae, and

.Pilsbry, Henry A. 1939. ''Land Mollusca of North America (North of Mexico)''. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Monograph 3, vol. 1(1): 1-573. Tribes in the subfamily Helminthoglyptinae include (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005): *tribe Helminthoglyptini Pilsbry, 1939 **subtribe Helminthoglyptina Pilsbry, 1939: the mucous glands lie adjacent to the vagina or to the sheath of the dart apparatus; the ducts of the glands are provided with bulbous reservoirs. **subtribe Micrariontina Schileyko, 1991: the mucous glands lie adjacent to the dart sac; in part the dart apparatus is missing. *tribe Sonorelicini Roth, 1996 Subfamily Sonorellinae Pilsbry, 1939: the diverticulum and the dart apparatus are absent.

Genera

ITIS The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) is an American partnership of federal agencies designed to provide consistent and reliable information on the taxonomy of biological species. ITIS was originally formed in 1996 as an interagenc ...

listed 16 genera under Helminthoglyptidae.
"BioLib" biological library; accessed 17 Apr. 2008.

WoRMS The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms. Content The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...

added the two genera ''Greggelix'' and ''Micrarionta'', as well as dividing the subfamily into two tribes. They are listed below: * Helminthoglyptini Pilsbry, 1939 ** '' Cahuillus'' B. Roth, 1996 ** '' Chamaearionta'' S.S. Berry, 1930 ** ''

Eremarionta ''Eremarionta'' is a genus of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant s ...

'' Pilsbry, 1913 ** '' Eremariontoides'' W.B. Miller, 1981 ** '' Greggelix'' W.B. Miller, 1972 ** ''

Helminthoglypta ''Helminthoglypta'' is a genus of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the subfamily Helminthoglyptinae of the family Xanthonychidae.MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Helminthoglypta A ...

'' Ancey, 1887 - type genus of the family Helminthoglyptidae and subtribe Helminthoglyptina ** '' Herpeteros'' Berry, 1947 ** ''

Micrarionta ''Micrarionta'' is a genus of medium-sized air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Helminthoglyptidae. Species The following species are recognised in the genus ''Micrarionta'': *'' Micrarionta beatula' ...

'' Ancey, 1880 - type genus of the subtribe Micrariontina ** '' Martirelix'' W.B. Miller, 1982 ** '' Noyo'' Roth, 1996 ** '' Plesarionta'' Pilsbry, 1939 ** '' Rothelix'' Miller, 1985 ** '' Sonorelix'' Berry, 1943 - was listed as type genus of the tribe Sonorelicini ** ''

Xerarionta ''Xerarionta'' is a genus of land snails in the subfamily Helminthoglyptinae. Species The following species are recognised in the genus ''Xerarionta'': *''Xerarionta agnesae'' *''Xerarionta areolata'' *†''Xerarionta constenii'' *''Xerariont ...

'' Pilsbry, 1913 * Sonorellini Pilsbry, 1939 ** '' Maricopella'' Roth, 1996 ** '' Mohavelix'' Berry, 1943 ** '' Myotophallus'' Pilsbry, 1939 ** ''

Sonorella ''Sonorella'' is a genus of land snails in the subfamily Helminthoglyptinae. They are known commonly as talussnails or talus snails because most live in talus and similar habitat. They are distributed across the southwestern United States and ...

'' Pilsbry, 1900 - was listed as type genus of the subfamily Sonorellinae (now Sonorellini) Genera listed below has an unknown origin: * '' Averellia'' Ancey, 1887 * ''

Cepolis ''Cepolis'' is a genus of 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 s ...

'' Montfort, 1810 * ''

Dialeuca ''Dialeuca'' is a genus of gastropods belonging to the family Cepolidae. The species of this genus are found in Central America. Species: * '' Dialeuca blandiana'' (C. B. Adams, 1850) * ''Dialeuca conspersula ''Dialeuca'' is a genus of gast ...

'' Albers, 1850 * '' Hemitrochus'' Swainson, 1840 * ''

Humboldtiana ''Humboldtiana'' is a genus of American air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the subfamily Humboldtianinae. Anatomy Snails in this genus create and use love darts as part of their mating behavior. The scanni ...

'' Ihering, 1892 * '' Leptarionta'' Fischer & Crosse, 1872 * '' Polymita'' Beck, 1837 * '' Setipellis'' Pilsbry, 1926 * '' Tryonigens'' Pilsbry, 1927 The taxon listed below was moved into another taxon: * '' Xanthonyx'' Crosse & Fischer, 1867: Now under

References

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