Achatinellidae is a

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

of tropical 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 gastropod mollusks that have shells (those without shells are known as ...

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. 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 or near the ground, as opposed to ...

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 includ ...

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...

s in the superfamily

Pupilloidea Pupilloidea is a superfamily of small and very small air-breathing land snails, terrestrial gastropod mollusks in the infraorder '' Pupilloidei'' . Taxonomy This superfamily contains the following families: * Achatinellidae Gulick, 1873 * Agard ...

Taxonomy

It was previously the only family in the superfamily Achatinelloidea (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005). It is now classified under the superfamily

. The family Achatinellidae represents a diverse

adaptive radiation In evolutionary biology, adaptive radiation is a process in which organisms diversify rapidly from an ancestral species into a multitude of new forms, particularly when a change in the environment makes new resources available, alters biotic int ...

. All species of tree-snail in Hawaii are believed to have come from a single ancestral snail. How that ancestral snail made the trip across the ocean is unknown. A longstanding theory is that a bird carried a notably smaller ancestor across the ocean and dropped it on the islands, as bird mediated dispersal has been documented in other snail species. Alternative theories include that it floating across the ocean on a mat of debris, or that it island hopped across the Pacific in a combination of the theories. Subfamilies in the family Achatinellidae include: * Achatinellinae Gulick, 1873 - synonym: Helicterinae Pease, 1870 (inv.) * Auriculellinae Odhner, 1921 * Elasmatininae Iredale, 1937 ** tribe Elasmatinini Iredale, 1937 - synonyms: Strobilidae Zilch, 1959 (n.a.); Pitysinae Cooke & Kondo, 1961 ** tribe Antonellini Cooke & Kondo, 1961 ** tribe Tubuaiini Cooke & Kondo, 1961 * Pacificellinae Steenberg, 1925 ** tribe Pacificellini Steenberg, 1925 - synonym: Tornatellinoptini Cooke & Kondo, 1961 ** tribe Lamellideini Cooke & Kondo, 1961 * Tekoulininae Solem, 1972 * Tornatellidinae Cooke & Kondo, 1961 ** tribe Tornatellidini Cooke & Kondo, 1961 ** tribe Tornatellariini Cooke & Kondo, 1961 * Tornatellininae Sykes, 1900 ** tribe Tornatellinini Sykes, 1900 ** tribe Elasmiatini Kuroda & Habe, 1949

Anatomy

In this family, the number of

haploid Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for autosomal and pseudoautosomal genes. Sets of chromosomes refer to the number of maternal and paternal chromosome copies, respectively ...

chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

s lies between 16 and 25 (according to the values in the 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.

Distribution

This family of snails occurs widely in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

islands. They are at their most diverse in the

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

an group.

Genera

Genera in the family Achatinellidae include: Achatinellinae * ''

Achatinella ''Achatinella'' is a tropical genus of colorful land snails in the monotypic Achatinellidae subfamily ''Achatinellinae''. Species are arboreal pulmonate gastropod mollusks with some species called Oʻahu tree snails or kāhuli in the Hawaiian la ...

'' Swainson, 1828 -

type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearing type of a nominal f ...

of the subfamily Achatinellinae * ''

Partulina ''Partulina'' is a genus of tropical air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Achatinellidae. Species Species within the genus ''Partulina'' include: * '' Partulina confusa'' *†'' Partulina crassa'' ...

'' Pfeiffer, 1854 * ''

Perdicella ''Perdicella'' is a genus of tropical air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Achatinellidae. They are endemic to Hawaii and the majority of the species are extinct. Species Species within the genus ...

'' Pease, 1870 * ''

Newcombia ''Newcombia'' is a genus of tropical tree-living air-breathing land snails, arboreal pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Achatinellidae. The Hawaiian tree snail genus ''Newcombia'' is a member of the family Achatinellidae and the end ...

'' Pfeiffer, 1854 Auriculellinae * ''

Auriculella ''Auriculella'' is a genus of air-breathing tropical land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Achatinellidae. They are endemic to Hawaii (United States) and several species are extinct. They are oviparous (egg laying) ...

'' Pfeiffer, 1854 - type genus of the subfamily Auriculellinae Elasmatininae * tribe Elasmatinini * tribe Antonellini * tribe Tubuaiini ** '' Tubuaia'' Pacificellinae * tribe Pacificellini ** ''

Tornatellinops ''Tornatellinops'' is a genera, genus of minute air-breathing land snails, terrestrial animal, terrestrial gastropod mollusk, or micromollusks in the family (biology), family Achatinellidae. Distribution This genus is endemism, endemic to island ...

'' Pilsbry & Cooke, 1915 * tribe Lamellideini ** ''

Lamellidea ''Lamellidea'' is a genus of air-breathing tropical land snails, terrestrial animal, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Achatinellidae. Species Species within the genus ''Lamellidea'' include: * ''Lamellidea biplicata'' * '' ...

'' Pilsbry, 1910 Tekoulininae Tornatellidinae * tribe Tornatellidini ** '' Tornatellides'' Pilsbry, 1910 - type genus of the tribe Tornatellidini * tribe Tornatellariini ** '' Tornatellaria'' Pilsbry, 1910 - type genus of the tribe Tornatellariini Tornatellininae * tribe Tornatellinini ** '' Tornatellina'' L. Pfeiffer, 1842 - type genus the tribe Tornatellinini * tribe Elasmiatini ** ''

Elasmias ''Elasmias'' is a genus of tropical tree-living air-breathing land snails, arboreal pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Achatinellidae. ''Elasmias'' is the type genus of the tribe Elasmiatini. Species Species within the genus ''Elas ...

'' Pilsbry, 1910 - type genus of the tribe Elasmiatini unsorted * '' Gulickia'' Cooke, 1915Cowie R. H. (1996).
''Gulickia alexandri''

2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Downloaded on 7 August 2007. * † '' Hotumatua'' Kirch, Christensen & Steadman, 2009 - '' Hotumatua anakenana'' Kirch, Christensen & Steadman, 2009Kirch P. V., Christensen C. C. & Steadman D. W. (2009). "Subfossil Land Snails from Easter Island, Including ''Hotumatua anakenana'', New Genus and Species (Pulmonata: Achatinellidae) 1". ''

Pacific Science ''Pacific Science'' is a quarterly multidisciplinary peer-reviewed scientific journal covering the biological and physical sciences of the Pacific basin, focusing especially on biogeography, ecology, evolution, geology and volcanology, oceanograph ...

'' 63(1): 105-122
PDF
* ''

'' Pilsbry, 1915 * ''

Tornelasmias ''Tornelasmias'' was a genus of minute air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks or micromollusks in the family Achatinellidae Achatinellidae is a family of tropical air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate ...

'' Iredale, 1944

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q144553 Gastropod families