Ebalidae

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Ebalidae

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Orthogastropoda
Superorder:	Heterobranchia
Order:	Heterostropha
Superfamily:	Pyramidelloidea
Family:	Ebalidae

Genera

See text.

Synonyms

Anisocyclidae Van Aartsen, 1995

Ebalidae is a family of minute sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Pyramidelloidea - the pyrams and their allies.

According to Schander, Van Aartsen & Corgan (1999) there are five genera in the Ebalidae.

1 Genera within the family Ebalidae
2 Description
3 Life habits
4 References

[edit] Genera within the family Ebalidae

Ebala J. E. Gray, 1847 (Type genus) = Anisocycla Monterosato, 1880
Bermudaclis Bartsch, 1947
Chesapeakella Campbell, 1993
Ebalina Thiele, 1929
Henrya Bartsch, 1947

The genus Ebalidae was previously placed in the subfamily Eulimellinae of the family Pyramidellidae, but is now placed in the family Ebalidae, for which it is the type genus.

[edit] Description

Members of Ebala are small (<4 mm) gastropods with a sinistral protoconch. The shell is transparent, sometimes with opaque spots. In contrast to most of the families in the Pyramidelloidea, they do possess a radula.

[edit] Life habits

Members of the Ebalidae are found in tropical to temperate waters, often associated with sea grass beds (e.g. Posedonia and Zostera ).

[edit] References

Ebalidae (TSN 566894). Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
Schander, C., van Aartsen, J. J., Corgan, J. C. (1999). "Families and genera of the Pyramidelloidea (Mollusca: Gastropoda)". Bollettino Malacologico 34 (9-12): 145–166.
Warén, A. (1994). "Systematic position and validity of Ebala, Gray, 1847 (Ebalidae fam. n., Pyramidelloidea, Heterobranchia)". Bollettino Malacologico 30: 203–210.