The name of this family has long been controversial, and used to be Atyidae or Atydidae. Another, but incorrect, spelling was Haminaeidae (See (ICZN) 2000. Opinion 1942).
A number of genera have been proposed for this family, but the species are hard to identify (or sometimes impossible to identify) by looking only at the external characteristics. Until the internal
anatomy of 'wet' specimens has been fully described, the status of many of the genera listed here is uncertain.
Distribution
These bubble snails occur in all warm or temperate seas.
Habitat
These are sand dwellers or they live on muddy bottoms, in bays, estuaries, and close to the shore in tidepools.
Description of the live animal
These are colorful snails, that can partially take the color of the sea floor.
Their large cephalic shield is rounded at the front, but deeply lobed behind. The
mantle protrudes behind the shell. The shell is partially or completely enfolded by lateral parapodial (=fleshy winglike outgrowths) lobes.
Shell description
Their
shell varies in size according to the species, from 3 mm to 30 mm.
The shell is ovoid, thin and translucent. It may be smooth or have spiral grooves (striae). The
umbilicalapex is sunken or enclosed and no longer visible. Large
body whorl with fine spiral striations. Smooth columella. The thin outer lip of the
aperture extends beyond the
apex of the shell and is thus longer than the body whorl. The aperture narrows posteriorly and is wider anteriorly.
Ecology
These snails are
herbivorous. Their diet consists of various kinds of
green algae. They can survive in brackish water.
They are
hermaphrodites. Their
eggs are deposited in round or oval jellylike strings, attached to
eelgrass or sand.
Diniatys dentifer A. Adams, 1850 - Distribution: Indo-Pacific, Length : 10 mm, Description : this herbivore is found on the bluegreen algae Lyngbya majuscula, Schizothrix and Hormothamnion. There is a pointed projection on the columella. The color varies between green and various shades of brown. The two black eyes are on the back of the cephalic shield.
Since most of these bubble snails were named on the basis of the shell alone, the occurrence of synonyms among the following species is quite possible.
Description : a bubble snail with a great variation in color, from white to brown, but always with a characteristic pattern; heavy shell;
radula formula : 2.1.2;
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Haminoeidae.
^Pilsbry H. A. (1895). Manual of Conchology, structural and systematic, with illustrations of the species. Polyplacophora, (Chitons.) Acanthochitidae, Cryptoplacidae and appendix. Tectibranchiata. 15:
page 351.
^
abMalaquias M. A. E. (2010). "Systematics, phylogeny, and natural history of Bullacta exarata (Philippi, 1849): an endemic cephalaspidean gastropod from the China Sea". Journal of Natural History44(33 & 34): 2015-2029.
doi:
10.1080/00222933.2010.487574.
^Malaquias M. A. E., Dodds J. M., Bouchet P. & Reid D. G. (2009). "A molecular phylogeny of the Cephalaspidea sensu lato (Gastropoda: Euthyneura): Architectibranchia redefined and Runcinacea reinstated". Zoologica Scripta38(1): 23-41.
doi:
10.1111/j.1463-6409.2008.00354.x.
Vaught, K.C. (1989). A classification of the living Mollusca. American Malacologists: Melbourne, FL (USA).
ISBN0-915826-22-4. XII, 195 pp