The Orthalicoidea are a

superfamily SUPERFAMILY is a database and search platform of structural and functional annotation for all proteins and genomes. It classifies amino acid sequences into known structural domains, especially into SCOP superfamilies. Domains are functional, str ...

of 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 ...

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 infraorder Orthalicoidei of the suborder

Helicina ''Helicina'' is a genus of tropical and subtropical land snails with an operculum, terrestrial gastropod mollusks. This is the type genus of its family (Helicinidae) and subfamily ( Helicinae), as well as the superfamily Helicinoidea. This ...

MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Simpulopsidae Schileyko, 1999. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=870047 on 2021-02-05

Distribution

The Orthalicoidea is a dominant faunal element in the

Neotropics The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropics, tropical Ecoregion#Terrestrial, terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperat ...

, but also has a number of genera with a

Gondwana Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final stages ...

n distribution.

Taxonomy

2005 taxonomy

This taxonomy, as accepted by Bouchet & Rocroi, was based on the study by Nordsieck, published in 1986, and the classification as formulated by Schileyko in 1999. However Bouchet & Rocroi diverged from this classification in uniting the families Bulimulidae and Orthalacidae. They also considered the family Placostylidae as a distinct family from Orthalicidae, and the family Coelociontidae a distinct family from Urocoptidae. However, the position of the families Megaspiridae and Grangerellidae is doubtful. The following seven

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

have been recognized in the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005): *Family Cerionidae Pilsbry, 1901 *Family Coelociontidae Iredale, 1937 * † Family Grangerellidae Russell, 1931 *Family Megaspiridae Pilsbry, 1904 *Family

Orthalicidae Orthalicidae (orthalicid land snails) are a family of tropical air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks are classified in the subfamily Orthalicoidea of the order Stylommatophora. MolluscaBase eds. (2021). Mollusca ...

Albers, 1860 *Family Placostylidae Pilsbry, 1946 *Family

Urocoptidae Urocoptidae is a family of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Urocoptoidea. Taxonomy 2005 taxonomy The family Urocoptidae was classified in the superfamily Orthalicoidea (according to ...

Pilsbry, 1898 (1868) * Vidaliellidae H. Nordsieck, 1986 †

2008 taxonomy

Uit de Weerd moved two families

and Cerionidae to newly established superfamily

Urocoptoidea Urocoptoidea is a Superfamily (zoology), superfamily of land snails, gastropods in the suborder Helicina (suborder), Helicina. MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Urocoptoidea Pilsbry, 1898 (1868). Accessed through: World Register of Marine S ...

based on

molecular phylogeny Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

research in 2008.Uit de Weerd D. R. (2008). "Delimitation and phylogenetics of the highly diverse land snail family Urocoptidae (Gastropoda, Pulmonata) based on 28S rRNA sequence data: A reunion with ''Cerion''". ''

Journal of Molluscan Studies The ''Journal of Molluscan Studies'' is the peer-reviewed scientific journal of the Malacological Society of London, covering research in malacology.

'' 74: 317-329. .

2009 taxonomy

Family Prestonellidae van Bruggen, 1978 - A study by Herbert and Mitchell, published in 2009, places this enigmatic family, of which the phylogenetic relationships were previously unknown, in the

n superfamily Orthalicoidea, while it was previously tentatively placed as a synonym of

Aillyidae Aillyidae is a family of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the informal group Sigmurethra. Aillyidae is the only family in the superfamily Aillyoidea. This family and the genus is named in honor of Swedish m ...

2010 taxonomy

Breure et al. (2010) moved '' Prestonella'' and '' Bothriembryon'' to Placostylidae and they elevated Bulimulinae to

Bulimulidae Bulimulidae is a taxonomic family of medium-sized to large, air-breathing, tropical and sub-tropical land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Orthalicoidea.MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Bulimulidae Tr ...

, Odontostomini to

Odontostomidae Odontostomidae is a taxonomic family of medium-sized to large, air-breathing, tropical and sub-tropical land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Orthalicoidea.Breure A. S. H. & Romero P. (2012). "Support and su ...

, Amphibuliminae to

Amphibulimidae Amphibulimidae is a taxonomic family of land snails, semi-slugs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Orthalicoidea.Breure A. S. H. & Romero P. (2012). "Support and surprises: molecular phylogeny of the land snail superf ...

. They also removed Coelociontidae from Orthalicoidea.Breure A. S. H., Groenenberg D. S. J. & Schilthuizen M. (2010). "New insights in the phylogenetic relations within the Orthalicoidea (Gastropoda, Stylommatophora) based on 28S sequence data". ''

Basteria ''Basteria'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Netherlands Malacological Society, covering research on molluscs. It was established in 1936 and is now published mostly in English. Since 2000, the editor-in-chief has ...

'' 74(1-3): 25-31.

2012 taxonomy

Breure & Romero (2012) confirmed previous results from 2010, additionally they elevated Simpulopsini to

Simpulopsidae Simpulopsidae is a taxonomic family of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Orthalicoidea. MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Simpulopsidae Schileyko, 1999. Accessed through: World Regist ...

, renamed Placostylidae to Bothriembryontidae.Breure A. S. H. & Romero P. (2012). "Support and surprises: molecular phylogeny of the land snail superfamily Orthalicoidea using a three-locus gene analysis with a divergence time analysis and ancestral area reconstruction (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora)". '' Archiv für Molluskenkunde: International Journal of Malacology'' 141(1): 1-20. . Therefore, there are recognized seven extant families and one extinct family within Orthalicoidea: *

P. Fischer, 1873 * Bothriembryontidae Iredale, 1937 *

Tryon, 1867 * † Grangerellidae Russell, 1931 * Megaspiridae Pilsbry, 1904 *

Pilsbry & Vanatta, 1898 *

Albers, 1860 *

Schileyko, 1999 * † Vidaliellidae H. Nordsieck, 1986

References

This article incorporates CC-BY-3.0 text from the referenceBreure A. S. H. (2011). "Annotated type catalogue of the Orthalicoidea (Mollusca, Gastropoda) in the Royal Belgian Institute of Sciences, Brussels, with description of two new species". ''

ZooKeys ''ZooKeys'' is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal covering zoological taxonomy, phylogeny, and biogeography. It was established in 2008 and the editor-in-chief is Terry Erwin (Smithsonian Institution). It is published by Pensoft Publ ...

'' 101: 1-50. .