Planaxidae, commonly called planaxids or clusterwinks, are a

taxonomic Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

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 small and minute

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 ...

pantropical A pantropical ("all tropics") distribution is one which covers Tropics, tropical regions of both hemispheres. Examples of species include caecilians, modern sirenians and the plant genera ''Acacia'' and ''Bacopa''. ''Neotropical'' is a zoogeogra ...

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

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 Cerithoidea. They live on rocky shores in the

littoral zone The littoral zone or nearshore is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely inundated), to coastal areas ...

of the tropics and subtropics.

Characteristics

Planaxids are known as clusterwinks because of their habit of clustering together in concealed, moist locations when the tide is out. They have conical shells resembling periwinkles, except for the wide, shallow anterior canals. They brood their

embryo An embryo is an initial stage of development of a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male spe ...

s in a chamber behind their heads, releasing them into the sea as

veliger A veliger is the planktonic larva of many kinds of sea snails and freshwater snails, as well as most bivalve molluscs (clams) and tusk shells. Description The veliger is the characteristic larva of the gastropod, bivalve and scaphopod ...

larvae to form part of the

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) that are unable to propel themselves against a Ocean current, current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankt ...

Subfamilies

The following two

subfamilies In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

are recognized in the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005): *Planaxinae Gray, 1850 *Fossarinae A. Adams, 1860 - previously in a family of its own, named Fossaridae

Genera

The family Planaxidae comprises the following genera:Houbrick R. S. (1987). "Anatomy, Reproductive Biology, and Phylogeny of the Planaxidae (Cerithiacea: Prosobranchia)". ''Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology'' 445. The following genera are recognised: Planaxinae * † '' Cabania'' Lozouet & Senut, 1985 * ''

Fissilabia ''Fissilabia'' is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Planaxidae.MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Fissilabia MacGillivray, 1836. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org ...

'' Macgillivray, 1836 * '' Halotapada'' Iredale, 1936 * ''

Hinea ''Hinea'' is a genus of small sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Planaxidae.Rosenberg, G. (2012). Hinea. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=598427 on ...

'' Gray, 1847 * '' Holcostoma'' H. Adams & A. Adams, 1853 * † '' Leioplanaxis'' Lozouet & Maestrati, 1994 * † ''

Orthochilus ''Orthochilus'' is a genus of orchids that consists of at least 34 species, most of which are native to Africa and Madagascar with a few species in tropical and subtropical America. The genus was first formally described in 1850 by the French bot ...

'' Cossmann, 1889 * ''

Planaxis ''Planaxis'' is a genus of small sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Planaxidae. Species Species within the genus ''Planaxis'' include: * '' Planaxis savignyi'' Deshayes, 1844 * '' Planaxis sulcatus'' (Born, 1791) * '' Planaxis ...

Lamarck Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, chevalier de Lamarck (1 August 1744 – 18 December 1829), often known simply as Lamarck (; ), was a French naturalist, biologist, academic, and soldier. He was an early proponent of the idea that biolog ...

, 1822 * '' Simulathena'' Houbrick, 1992 * '' Supplanaxis'' Thiele, 1929 ;Synonyms: * ''

Angiola ''Angiola'' is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Planaxidae. This genus has become a synonym of'' Hinea'' Gray, 1847. Species Species within the genus ''Angiola'' include: * ''Angiola fasciata'' (Pease, 1868): syn ...

'' Dall, 1926: synonym of ''

'' Gray, 1847 * ''Leucostoma'' Swainson, 1840: synonym of ''Fissilabia'' MacGillivray, 1836 (invalid: junior homonym of ''Leucostoma'' Meigen, 1803 iptera * ''Quoyia'' Gray, 1839: synonym of ''Fissilabia'' MacGillivray, 1836 Fossarinae * '' Anafossarus'' Iredale, 1936 * '' Chilkaia'' Preston, 1915 * '' Fossarus''

Philippi Philippi (; grc-gre, Φίλιπποι, ''Philippoi'') was a major Greek city northwest of the nearby island, Thasos. Its original name was Crenides ( grc-gre, Κρηνῖδες, ''Krenides'' "Fountains") after its establishment by Thasian colon ...

, 1841 * '' Larinopsis'' J. H. Gatliff & C. J. Gabriel, 1916 * † '' Medoriopsis'' Cossmann, 1888 * † '' Vouastia'' Raspail, 1909 ;Synonyms: * ''Fossar'' Gray, 1847: synonym of '' Fossarus'' Philippi, 1841 (invalid: unjustified emendation of ''Fossarus'') * ''Maravignia'' Aradas & Maggiore, 1844: synonym of ''Fossarus'' Philippi, 1841

References

* Strong E.E., Colgan D.J., Healy J.M., Lydeard C., Ponder W.F. & Glaubrecht M. (2011) ''Phylogeny of the gastropod superfamily Cerithioidea using morphology and molecules''. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 162: 43–89. * Bouchet P., Rocroi J.P., Hausdorf B., Kaim A., Kano Y., Nützel A., Parkhaev P., Schrödl M. & Strong E.E. (2017). Revised classification, nomenclator and typification of gastropod and monoplacophoran families. Malacologia. 61(1-2): 1-526.

External links

Gray, M. E., Figures of molluscous animals, selected from various authors. Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, London. Vol. 4, iv + 219 pp. (August)

Houbrick R.S. 1987. ''Anatomy, Reproductive Biology, and Phylogeny of the Planaxidae (Cerithiacea: Prosobranchia)''. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 445: 1-57
* * Powell A. W. B., ''New Zealand Mollusca'', William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979
GBIF
{{Commons category, Planaxidae Gastropod families Taxa named by John Edward Gray Pantropical fauna