Nassariidae Explained

The Nassariidae, Nassa mud snails (US), or dog whelks (UK) are a taxonomic family of small to medium-sized sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the clade Neogastropoda.

"Dog whelk" also refers to Nucella lapillus.

Shell description

These snails have rounded shells with a high spire, an oval aperture, and a siphonal notch.

Distribution

This family of snails is found worldwide.

Habitat

These snails are found mostly in shallow water, on sandy or muddy substrates, often intertidally, but sometimes in deep water. They can be present in very large numbers in suitable habitat.

Feeding habits

Nassariidae are primarily active and lively scavengers.

2005 taxonomy

The family Nassariidae is closely related to the family of the true whelks, Buccinidae, because of their shared characteristics in the anatomy of the species in these families,[1] [2] [3] [4]), i.e. a long proboscis, the loss of glandular dorsal folds, and a smaller gland of Leiblein (a dorsal venom gland in the mid-oesophagus).

According to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi (2005) the family Nassariidae consists of four subfamilies:

Kantor et al. (2022) used molecular data to revise the classification of the Buccinoidea superfamily, proposing 20 taxa of family rank and 23 subfamilies.[6] This included the description of a new subfamily of Nassariidae:

2006 taxonomy

Photinae Gray, 1857 was recognized

2017 taxonomy

A new subfamily Anentominae was recognized.

Genera

Genera within the family Nassariidae include:[8]

NassariinaeThe operculum is ovate, acute and with an apical nucleus; the margin is entire or serrated.

The eyes in some of the genera are near the base of the tentacles, in others near their middle, and are sometimeswanting.

The aperture of the shell is either truncate, or with a short recurved siphonal canal, and the inner lip is usually callous and spreading over the body whorl.[9]

List of synonyms in Nassariinae:

Anentominae
Buccinanopsinae Galindo, Puillandre, Lozouet & Bouchet, 2016
Bullinae
Cylleninae
Dorsaninae
Photinae
Tomliniinae subfam. nov.
Subfamily ?

External links

Notes and References

  1. (Ponder, 1973
  2. The origin and evolution of the Neogastropoda.Malacologia. 1973;12(2):295-338.
  3. Systematics of the family Nassariidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda), Bulletin of the Auckland Institute and Museum, 14, 356 p
  4. http://www.mapress.com/mr/content/v25/2005f/n2p098.pdf The molecular phylogeny of the Buccinidae(Caenogastropoda: Neogastropoda) as inferred from the complete mitochondrial 16 S rRNA gene sequences of selected representatives, Molluscan Research 25 (2), pp. 85-98
  5. Species identification and phylogenetic analysis of genus Nassarius (Nassariidae) based on mitochondrial genes . 10.1007/s00343-010-9031-4 . 2010 . Li . Haitao . Lin . Duan . Fang . Hongda . Zhu . Aijia . Gao . Yang . Chinese Journal of Oceanology and Limnology . 28 . 3 . 565–572 . 2010ChJOL..28..565L . 82834850 .
  6. Kantor, Yuri I.. Fedosov, Alexander E.. Kosyan, Alisa R.. Puillandre, Nicolas. Sorokin, Pavel A.. Kano, Yasunori. Clark, Roger. Bouchet, Philippe. Molecular phylogeny and revised classification of the Buccinoidea (Neogastropoda). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 2022. 194. 3. 789–857. 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlab031.
  7. Strong, E. E., Galindo, L. A., & Kantor, Y. I. (2017). "Quid est Clea helena? Evidence for a previously unrecognized radiation of assassin snails (Gastropoda: Buccinoidea: Nassariidae)". PeerJ 5: e3638. .
  8. [Arthur William Baden Powell|Powell A W B]
  9. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3782650 Adams, H. & Adams, A. (1853-1858). The genera of Recent Mollusca; arranged according to their organization. London, van Voorst. Vol. 1: xl + 484 pp.; vol. 2: 661 pp.; vol. 3: 138 pls
  10. Bouchet, P. (2017). Anentominae Strong, Galindo & Kantor, 2017. In: MolluscaBase (2017). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1027028 on 2017-11-22
  11. Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S. (2016). Photinae Gray, 1857. In: MolluscaBase (2017). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=225646 on 2017-11-22