Cerionidae Explained

Cerionidae is a family of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Urocoptoidea.

Pre-2008 taxonomy

According to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005), the family Cerionidae is classified in the superfamily Orthalicoidea, within the informal group Sigmurethra, itself belonging to the clade Stylommatophora within the clade Eupulmonata. The family Cerionidae has no subfamilies.

2008 taxonomy

Uit de Weerd (2008) moved the Cerionidae to the newly established superfamily Urocoptoidea based on molecular phylogeny research.^[1]

Fossil record

The oldest fossil cerionid is C. acherontis from the Upper Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation, in Montana, northwestern USA.^[2] The second oldest record is the genus Brasilennea from the Brazilian Paleocene Itaboraí Basin, in Rio de Janeiro.^[3]

Genera

Genera within the Cerionidae include:

• Brasilennea Maury, 1935^[4]
• Cerion Röding, 1798 - the type genus of the family Cerionidae
• Mexistrophia Thompson, 2011^[5]

Notes and References

1. 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 74: 317–329. .
2. Roth, B. & Hartman, J.H. 1998. A probable Cerion (Gastropoda: Pulmonata) from Uppermost Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation, Garfield County, Montana. PaleoBios 18: 16–20.
3. Salvador, R.B.; Rowson, B.; Simone, L.R.L. 2011. Rewriting the fossil history of Cerionidae (Gastropoda: Pulmonata): new family assignment of the Brazilian Palaeocene genus Brasilennea Maury, 1935. Journal of Molluscan Studies 77: 445–447.
4. Maury, C.J. 1935. New genera and new species of fossil terrestrial Mollusca from Brazil. American Museum Novitates 764: 1–15.
5. Thompson, F.G. 2011. Mexistrophia, a new genus of Cerionidae from Mexico (Gastropoda: Pulmonata: Urocoptoidea). Nautilus 125(4): 182–192.