Assimineidae Temporal range: Miocene–Recent[1] |
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A shell of Assiminea grayana | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Gastropoda |
(unranked): | clade Caenogastropoda clade Hypsogastropoda |
Superfamily: | Rissooidea |
Family: | Assimineidae H. Adams & A. Adams, 1856 |
Subfamilies | |
Assimineinae |
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Diversity | |
About 20 freshwater species[2] and numerous marine |
Assimineidae is a family of minute snails with an operculum that live in saltwater, freshwater or on the land; they are mostly aquatic gastropod mollusks or micromollusks, in the clade Littorinimorpha.
Contents |
The distribution of the Assimineidae is worldwide.[1]
Various species in this family occur in estuarine habitats, in salt marshes and in freshwater. Some are terrestrial or amphibious.
The shell is small to medium large, more or less egg-conelike shaped.[1] The apertural margin is simple.[1] The operculum is in most cases horny.[1]
They are characterized by rudimentary cephalic tentacles, a trunklike snout, a foot with a groove and rudimentary to absent ctenidium (a comb-like respiratory apparatus).[3]
The following three subfamilies have been recognized in the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005):
Genera in the family Assimineidae include:[4][5][6]
subfamily Assimineinae
subfamily Ekadantinae
subfamily Omphalotropidinae
subfamily ?
This article incorporates public domain text from the reference [1].