Eulimidae

Eulimidae
Apertural view of the shell of Melanella candida
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Order: Littorinimorpha
Superfamily: Vanikoroidea
Family: Eulimidae
Philippi, 1853
Synonyms
  • Aclididae G.O. Sars, 1878
  • Asterophilidae Thiele, 1925
  • Enteroxenidae Schwanwitsch, 1917
  • Enteroxeninae Schwanwitsch, 1917 (a junior synonym)
  • Entocolacidae Voigt, 1888
  • Entoconchidae Keferstein, 1864
  • Melanellidae Iredale, 1915
  • Paedophoropodidae A. V. Ivanov, 1933
  • Pelseneeriidae Schwanwitsch, 1917
  • Pherusidae Locard, 1886 (type genus a junior homonym of Pherusa Oken, 1807, and several others)
  • Roseniidae Nierstrasz, 1913
  • Stiliferidae H. Adams & A. Adams, 1853
  • Strombiformidae Iredale, 1915
  • Stylinidae Philippi, 1853 (Invalid: type genus [Stylina Fleming, 1828] a junior homonym)
  • Thycidae Thiele, 1929
  • Thycinae Thiele, 1929
  • Turtoniidae Rosén, 1910 (Invalid: type genus [Turtonia Rosén, 1910] a junior homonym)

Eulimidae is a family of very small parasitic sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Vanikoroidea.

Description

Eulima algoensis
Melanella martinii
Niso hizenensis

This is a species-rich family, encompassing more than 960 species according to WoRMS. Nevertheless, Warén & Gittenberger (1993) offered a broad estimate suggesting that Eulimidae may encompass more than 4,000 species. Even this may be unerestimated. A huge sampling effort in New Caledonia area estimated that 80% of the eulimids collected may represent undescribed species.


These small parasitic snails live on (or in some cases in) the bodies of echinoderms such as sea cucumbers, sea urchins, sea stars, etc. All species lack a radula, in most cases possessing a proboscis which they extend into their host's body cavity in order to feed.

Genera

Genera within the family Eulimidae include:

Genera brought into synonymy

References

  1. 1 2 Eulimidae Philippi, 1853. Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 5 January 2019.
  2. ↑ Warén A, Gittenberger E. 1993. Turbo politus Linnaeus, 1758 (currently Melanella polita; Mollusca, Gastropoda): proposed conservation of usage of the specific name, so conserving the specific name of Buccinum acicula Maller, 1774 (currently Cecilioides acicula) The Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 50:107-111
  3. ↑ Souza, L. S. de, Asorey, C. M. & Sellanes, J. ( (2024). "Melanella martarum sp. nov. (Gastropoda: Eulimidae): the first parasitic deep-sea snail reported for the Salas & Gomez Ridge". PeerJ. 12e: 6. Retrieved 25 September 2026.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is under a CC BY 4.0 license.
  4. ↑ Mah, Christopher L. (June 3, 2014). "P is for Parasitic Snail! Enter: The Eulimidae". The Echinoblog.
  5. ↑ "Eulimidae". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. accessed 4 July 2009
  6. ↑ Leonardo Santos de Souza, Alexandre Dias Pimenta; Eulimacrostoma gen. nov., a new genus of Eulimidae (Gastropoda, Caenogastropoda) with description of a new species and reevaluation of other western Atlantic species; Zoosystematics and Evolution 95(2) 405-415

Further reading