Spiraxidae is a
family
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. Idea ...
of
predatory
Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...
air-breathing
land snails,
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 gastropods in the superfamily
Testacelloidea (according to the
taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005).
Distribution
The distribution of this family is
Neotropical
The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone.
Definition
In bioge ...
.
Taxonomy
2005 taxonomy
The family Spiraxidae is classified within the informal group
Sigmurethra
Sigmurethra is a taxonomic category of air-breathing land snails and slugs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. This is an informal group which includes most land snails and slugs.
The two strong synapomorphies of Sigmurethra are a ...
, itself belonging to the
clade Stylommatophora within the clade
Eupulmonata
Eupulmonata is a taxonomic clade of air-breathing snails. The great majority of this group are land snails and slugs, but some are marine and some are saltmarsh snails that can tolerate salty conditions.
Linnean taxonomy
*Suborder Eupulmonat ...
(according to the
taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005).
The family Spiraxidae consists of the following subfamilies:
* Spiraxinae H. B. Baker, 1939
* Micromeninae Schileyko, 2000
2010 taxonomy
Thompson (2010)
PDF
. redefined subfamilies in the Spiraxidae, moving Euglandininae and Streptostylinae to become subfamilies of Spiraxidae. According to their work, there are three subfamilies within the Spiraxidae:
* Spiraxinae H. B. Baker, 1939 - including ''Micromena''
* Euglandininae H. B. Baker, 1941
* Streptostylinae H. B. Baker, 1941
Apparently this system of classification is not universally accepted, as
Fauna Europaea Fauna Europaea is a database of the scientific names and distribution of all living multicellular Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight o ...
uses different systematics for the subfamily Euglandininae, still placing it within the family Oleacinidae.
["''Poiretia'' P. Fischer 1883"](_blank)
Fauna Europaea Fauna Europaea is a database of the scientific names and distribution of all living multicellular Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight o ...
, accessed 17 January 2011.
Genera
Genera in the family Spiraxidae include:
Subfamily Spiraxinae include seven
genera:
* ''
Mayaxis'' Thompson, 1995
* ''
Micromena'' H. B. Baker, 1939
- this was the type genus of the subfamily Micromeninae
* ''
Miraradula'' Baker, 1939
* ''
Pseudosubulina'' Strebel & Pfeffer, 1882
* ''
Rectaxis'' Baker, 1926
* ''
Spiraxis'' C. B. Adams, 1850
- type genus of family Spiraxidae
* ''
Volutaxis'' Strebel & Pfeffer, 1882
Subfamily Euglandininae
* ''
Euglandina
''Euglandina'' is a genus of predatory medium- to large-sized, air-breathing, land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Spiraxidae.PDF.
These snails were previously placed in the family Oleacinidae (according to th ...
'' Crosse & P. Fischer, 1870 - type genus of the subfamily Euglandininae
* ''
Guillarmodia'' H. B. Baker, 1941
[Thompson F. G. (16 June 2008)]
"AN ANNOTATED CHECKLIST AND BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE LAND AND FRESHWATER SNAILS OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA"
accessed 14 January 2011.
* ''
Pittieria'' von Martens, 1901
* ''
Poiretia'' Fischer, 1883
* ''
Varicoglandina'' Pilsbry, 1908
* ''
Varicoturris'' Pilsbry, 1907
Subfamily Streptostylinae
* ''
Myxastyla'' Thompson, 1995
* ''
Oryzosoma'' Pilsbry, 1891
* ''
Salasiella'' Strebel, 1877
* ''
Strebelia'' Crosse & Fischer, 1868
* ''
Streptostyla'' Shuttleworth, 1852
- type genus of the subfamily Streptostylinae
Ecology
These land snails are
carnivorous and
predatory
Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...
.
References
External links
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3073064