| Staffordiidae | |
|---|---|
| drawing of apertural view of the shell of Staffordia daflaensis | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| (unranked): | clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura clade Panpulmonata clade Eupulmonata clade Stylommatophora informal group Sigmurethra clade limacoid clade |
| Superfamily: | Staffordioidea Thiele, 1931 |
| Family: | Staffordiidae Thiele, 1931[1] |
| Genera | |
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See text |
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Staffordiidae is a family of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Staffordioidea (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005).
Staffordiidae is the only family in the superamily Staffordioidea. This family has no subfamilies (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005).
Staffordiidae is poorly known[2] family, because it occur only in Dafla Hills area, India, that is very insufficiently known.[2]
Various sources consider Staffordiidae as a part of Dyakiidae[3] or Ariophantidae/Dyakiinae.[4]
Contents |
Distribution of Staffordiidae include only India in Dafla Hills.[2]
This area is close to northern margin of Indian plate.[2] The historical area of origin of Staffordiidae is not surely known, because the possible coastal area in southern Asia is considered to became uninhabitable[2] after Indian Plate and Eurasian Plate collision 50 and 55 million years ago. The original ancestral area of limacoid families is thought to be Palaearctic region and south-eastern Asia.[2] So it has been hypothetized that Staffordiidae have colonized its actual area from southern margin of Asian part of Eurasian Plate in Oligocene.[2]
Genera within the family Staffordiidae include:
The generic name Staffordia is in honor of Brigadier-General Stafford, who was in command of the punitive force which entered the Dafla Hills for the first time in the winter of 1874-1875.[5]
The foot of Staffordia is pointed.[5] The peripodial margin is simple with a narrow pale margin.[5] There are present small right and left shell-lobes.[5]
Reproductive system of Staffordia: the dart-sac is small, globose, with a long cord-like attachment to a coronal gland.[5] The penis is simple.[5] The spermatheca is long.[5]
Radula of Staffordia is with aculeate laterals.[5]
Comparison of shells of Staffordia species:
Staffordiidae is considered as sister group of all other families in the limacoid clade.[2]
The following cladogram shows the phylogenic relationships of this family and superfamily to the other families within the limacoid clade:[2]
| limacoid clade |
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This article incorporates public domain text from the reference.[5]