''Cerion'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of small to medium-sized 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 ...

s in the family Cerionidae, sometimes known as the peanut snails. The genus is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

region. The name ''Cerion'' is based on the Greek word ''

kerion Kerion or kerion celsi is an acute inflammatory process which is the result of the host's response to a fungal ringworm infection of the hair follicles of the scalp (occasionally the beard) that can be accompanied by secondary bacterial infection( ...

'', signifying honeycomb, and is given to these shells because the form of the shell resembles that of a

beehive A beehive is an enclosed structure in which some honey bee species of the subgenus '' Apis'' live and raise their young. Though the word ''beehive'' is commonly used to describe the nest of any bee colony, scientific and professional literature ...

; hence they were at one time known as beehive shells.Baker F. C. (1903). ''Shells of land and water; a familiar introduction to the study of the mollusks''. Chicago, A.W. Mumford, page 48. The fossil range of ''Cerion'' is possibly from the

Upper Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

, or the early

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

."''Cerion'': a web-based resource for ''Cerion'' research and identification"
accessed 5 April 2011. Records of ''Cerion'' in

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

are rare.

Species

Species within the genus ''Cerion'' include: * '' Cerion acuticostatum'' Sánchez Roig, 1948"Mollusca"
. Diversidad Biológica Cubana, accessed 23 March 2011. * '' Cerion aguayoi'' Torre & Clench, 1932 * '' Cerion alberti'' Clench & Aguayo, 1949 * '' Cerion alleni'' Torre, 1929 * '' Cerion anodonta'' * '' Cerion arangoi'' (Pilsbry & Vanatta, 1896) * '' Cerion banesense'' Clench & Aguayo, 1949 * '' Cerion barroi'' Aguayo & Jaume, 1957 * '' Cerion basistriatum'' Pilsbry & Vanatta, 1895 * '' Cerion bioscai'' Aguayo & Jaume, 1951 * '' Cerion blanesi'' Clench & Aguayo, 1951 * '' Cerion cabocruzense'' Pilsbry & Torre, 1943 * '' Cerion capraia'' * '' Cerion caroli'' Aguayo & Torre, 1951 * '' Cerion casablancae'' Bartsch, 1920 * '' Cerion catherwoodianum'' Wurtz, 1950 * '' Cerion ceiba'' Clench, 1948 * '' Cerion chaparra'' Aguayo & Sánchez Roig, 1953 * '' Cerion chaplini'' Wurtz, 1950 * ''

Cerion chrysalis ''Cerion chrysalis'' is a species of air-breathing tropical land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Cerionidae Cerionidae is a family of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the ...

''(Ferussac in Beck, 1837) * '' Cerion chrysaloides'' * '' Cerion circumscriptum'' Aguayo & Jaume, 1951 * '' Cerion cisneroi'' Clench & Aguayo, 1951 * '' Cerion cobarrubia'' Aguayo & Jaume, 1951 * '' Cerion columbiana'' * '' Cerion columbinus'' Sánchez Roig, 1951 * '' Cerion coutini'' Sánchez Roig, 1951 * '' Cerion crassilabris'' * '' Cerion crassiusculum'' Torre in Pilsbry & Vanatta, 1899 * '' Cerion cyclostomum'' (Küster, 1841) * '' Cerion dimidiatum'' (Pfeiffer, 1847) * '' Cerion disforme'' Clench & Aguayo, 1946 * '' Cerion dorotheae'' Aguayo & Jaume, 1951 * '' Cerion ebriolum'' Aguayo & Jaume, 1951 * '' Cerion evolva'' * '' Cerion fasciata'' * '' Cerion feltoni'' Sánchez Roig, 1951 * '' Cerion floridanum'' * '' Cerion geophilum'' Clench & Aguayo, 1949 * '' Cerion glans'' (Küster, 1844) * '' Cerion grilloensis'' Sánchez Roig, 1951 * '' Cerion grisea'' * '' Cerion gundlachi'' (Pfeiffer, 1852) * '' Cerion herrerai'' Aguayo & Jaume, 1951 * '' Cerion hessei'' Clench & Aguayo, 1949 * '' Cerion humberti'' Clench & Aguayo, 1949 * '' Cerion hyperlissum'' Pilsbry & Vanatta, 1896 * '' Cerion incanum'' (A. Binney, 1851) * '' Cerion incrassatum'' (Sowerby, 1876) * '' Cerion infandulum'' Aguayo & Torre, 1951 * '' Cerion infandum'' (Shuttleworth in Poey, 1858) * '' Cerion iostomum'' (Pfeiffer, 1854) * '' Cerion johnsoni'' Pilsbry & Vanatta, 1895 * '' Cerion josephi'' Clench & Aguayo, 1949 * '' Cerion kusteri'' (Pfeiffer, 1854) * '' Cerion laureani'' Clench & Aguayo, 1951 * '' Cerion longidens'' Pilsbry, 1902 * '' Cerion macrodon'' Aguayo & Jaume, 1951 * '' Cerion magister'' Pilsbry & Vanatta, 1896 * '' Cerion manatiense'' Aguayo & Jaume, 1951 * '' Cerion marielinum'' Torre in Pilsbry, 1927 * '' Cerion maritimum'' (Pfeiffer, 1839) * '' Cerion microdon'' Pilsbry & Vanatta, 1896 * '' Cerion microstonum'' (Pfeiffer, 1854) * '' Cerion miramarae'' Sánchez Roig, 1951 * '' Cerion multicostum'' (Küster, 1845) * '' Cerion mumia'' (Bruguière, 1792) * '' Cerion mumiola'' (Pfeiffer, 1839) * ''

Cerion nanus ''Cerion nanus'' is a species of medium-sized air-breathing land snail, a Terrestrial animal, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod in the family Cerionidae. Distribution and Ecology This species is Endemism, endemic to the island of Little Cayman, C ...

'' (Maynard, 1889)"Cerion"
Smithsonian Institution, accessed 17 May 2016. * '' Cerion nipense'' Aguayo, 1953 * '' Cerion obesum'' * '' Cerion orientale'' Clench & Aguayo, 1951 * '' Cerion palmeri'' Sánchez Roig, 1948 * '' Cerion pandionis'' Aguayo & Jaume, 1951 * '' Cerion paredonis'' Pilsbry, 1902 * '' Cerion pastelilloensis'' Sánchez Roig, 1951 * '' Cerion paucicostatum'' Torre, 1929 * '' Cerion paucisculptum'' Clench & Aguayo, 1952 * '' Cerion peracutum'' Clench & Aguayo, 1951 * '' Cerion persuasa'' * '' Cerion pilsbryi'' * '' Cerion pinerium'' Dall, 1895 * '' Cerion politum'' (Maynard, 1896) * '' Cerion prestoni'' Sánchez Roig, 1951 * '' Cerion pretiosus'' Sánchez Roig, 1951 * '' Cerion pseudocyclostomum'' Aguayo & Sánchez Roig, 1953 * '' Cerion pupilla'' * '' Cerion ramsdeni'' Torre in Welch, 1934 * '' Cerion regina'' * '' Cerion regula'' * '' Cerion restricta'' * '' Cerion ricardi'' Clench & Aguayo, 1951 * '' Cerion rodrigoi'' Gould, 1997 * '' Cerion saccharimeta'' * '' Cerion saetiae'' Sánchez Roig, 1948 * '' Cerion sagraianum'' (Pfeiffer, 1847) * '' Cerion sainthilarius'' Sánchez Roig, 1951 * '' Cerion sallei'' * '' Cerion salvatori'' Torre in Pilsbry, 1927 * '' Cerion sanctacruzense'' Aguayo & Jaume, 1951 * '' Cerion sanctamariae'' Aguayo & Jaume, 1951 * '' Cerion sanzi'' Blanes in Pilsbry & Vanatta, 1898 * '' Cerion scalarinum'' (Gundlach in Pfeiffer, 1860) * '' Cerion scopulorum'' Aguayo & Jaume, 1951 * '' Cerion sculptum'' (Poey, 1858) * '' Cerion sisal'' Clench & Aguayo, 1952 * '' Cerion striatellum'' * '' Cerion stupida'' * '' Cerion tanamensis'' Sánchez Roig, 1951 * '' Cerion tenuilabre'' (Gundlach in Pfeiffer, 1870) * '' Cerion torrei'' Blanes in Pilsbry & Vanatta, 1898 * '' Cerion tridentatun'' Pilsbry & Vanatta, 1895 * '' Cerion uva'' (Linnaeus, 1758) * '' Cerion vaccinum'' * '' Cerion vanattai'' Clench & Aguayo, 1951 * '' Cerion venustum'' (Poey, 1858) * '' Cerion viaregis'' Bartsch, 1920 * '' Cerion victor'' Torre, 1929 * '' Cerion vulneratum'' (Küster, 1855) * '' Cerion watlingense'' Dall, 1907 * '' Cerion yumaensis''

References

External links

Delimitation and phylogenetics of the diverse land-snail family Urocoptidae (gastropoda: Pulmonata) based on 28S rRNA sequence data: a reunion with cerion.
* http://invertebrates.si.edu/Cerion/species_list.cfm
Yesha Shrestha, Herman H. Wirshing, M. G. Harasewych : The Genus Cerion (Gastropoda: Cerionidae) in the Florida Keys; PLOS, ONE September 17, 2015
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5064261 Cerionidae Taxa named by Peter Friedrich Röding Taxonomy articles created by Polbot