| Borsoniidae | |
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| Apertural view of a shell of Tomopleura reevii | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| (unranked): | clade Caenogastropoda clade Hypsogastropoda clade Neogastropoda |
| Superfamily: | Conoidea |
| Family: | Borsoniidae [1] A. Bellardi, 1875 |
| Genera | |
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See text |
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| Synonyms[2] | |
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Borsoniidae is a monophyletic family of small to medium-sized sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea.[2][3]
In 2011, Bouchet, Kantor et al. brought genera from the subfamilies Clathurellinae and Raphitominae (at that point belonging to the family Conidae) and genera from the subfamily Zemaciinae (at that point belonging to the family Turridae) together in a new family Borsoniidae. This was based on anatomical characters and a dataset of molecular sequences of three gene fragments [1]
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This family is a rather heterogenous group, with wide ranging varieties in their properties. The shell is fusiform to biconic in shape. Its size has a wide range (between 5 mm and 80 mm). The shell is longitudinally coarsely ribbed, but axial ribs are sometimes obsolete to absent. The columella has a strong to obsolete plication upon the middle. In the genus Cordiera there are two columellar plaits. The aperture is elliptical to oval in shape and it has a short to moderately long (e.g. Zemacies excelsa) siphonal canal and a deep anal sinus. The operculum has a terminal nucleus, and may be missing in some species. The radula is absent in the genus Zemacies.