Eocypraeidae is a small family of large

sea snail Sea snail is a common name for slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguished from snails primarily by the ...

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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 ...

mollusc 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 esti ...

s in the superfamily Cypraeoidea, the cowries and cowry allies. MolluscaBase eds. (2022). MolluscaBase. Eocypraeidae F. A. Schilder, 1924. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=878564 on 2022-06-19 The family Eocypraeidae consists mainly of fossil species, except for two species: '' Sphaerocypraea incomparabilis'' Briano, 1993 (regarded as valid) and an as yet undescribed species found in the southern Atlantic. In 1963, a fresh shell of what was subsequently named ''Sphaerocypraea incomparabilis'' was dredged up by a Soviet trawler in the

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. There are currently (2009) only six known specimens of this shell in various collections.

Taxonomy

The taxonomy of Eocypraeidae is not fully understood and has undergone several modifications.

2005 taxonomy

According to the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005) this family belonged to the tribe Eocypraeini in the subfamily Ovulinae within the family Ovulidae.

2007 taxonomy

Fehse (2007)Fehse D. (2007). "Contributions to the knowledge of the Ovulidae. XVI. The higher systematics". ''

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'' 30(1): 121-125
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. has raised the tribe Eocypraeini to the status of the family Eocypraeidae, based on morphological research of the

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e, shell and animal morphology and molecular phylogeny research of the

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gene.

2016 taxonomy

Dolin thought that Eocypraeidae was part of the subfamily Prionovolvinae Fehse, 2007 in the family Ovulidae. This line of thought was followed by Reijnen & van der Meij (2019) and even for a while by the database WoRMS and Zvonareva et al., 2020, each relying on a previous author.

2021 taxonomy

In 2021 Fehse accepted the systematic position of Eocypraeidae as valid and more consistent. Still he urges for a complete revision of the Eocypraeidae as well as the fossil Cypraeidae based exclusively on the type shells. Fehse, D. (2021). The systematic position of the Eocypraeidae F.A. Schilder 1924 Part 2 (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Cypraeoidea). Privately published, Dirk Fehse, Berlin. 1-46
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Genera

Genera within the family Eocypraeidae include: ; Eocypraeinae F. A. Schilder, 1924 * † '' Allmoniella'' Dolin & Dockery, 2018 * † '' Apiocypraea'' F. A. Schilder, 1927 **

† A dagger, obelisk, or obelus is a typographical mark that usually indicates a footnote if an asterisk has already been used. The symbol is also used to indicate death (of people) or extinction (of species). It is one of the modern descendan ...

'' Apiocypraea davidi'' (

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, 1880) **

'' Apiocypraea parvoastensis'' (Sacco, 1894) **

'' Apiocypraea spatiosa'' Fehse, 2003 * † '' Cypropterina'' de Gregorio, 1880 * † '' Eocypraea'' Cossmann, 1903 It is extinct since the end of the Eocene. This is the type genus of the family. * † '' Eschatocypraea'' F. A. Schilder, 1966 * † '' Grovesia'' Dolin & Ledon, 2002 * † '' Oxycypraea'' F. A. Schilder, 1927 * † '' Taviania'' Dolin & Pacaud, 2009 * † ''Borystheniella'' Pacaud, 2018 (uncertain > taxon inquirendum, controversed status) ; Sulcocypraeinae Schilder, 1932 * † '' Gaskoinia'' Roberts, 1870 (assignmrnt uncertain) * † '' Luponovula'' Sacco, 1894 † * '' Sphaerocypraea'' F. A. Schilder, 1927 * † '' Sulcocypraea'' Conrad, 1865 * † '' Willungia'' Powell, 1938 ;Synonyms: * ''Chimaeria'' Briano, 1993: synonym of ''Sphaerocypraea'' F. A. Schilder, 1927 * † ''Marginocypraea'' Ingram, 1947: synonym of ''Sphaerocypraea'' F. A. Schilder, 1927

References

* Fehse, D. (2013). Zur systematischen stellung der Eocypraeidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda): Cypraeoidea). Palaeontographica A299: 127-148.

External links

An image of the shell of ''Sphaerocypraea incomparabilis''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5381644 Cypraeoidea