Zonitidae

Zonitidae Temporal range: Paleocene or Cretaceous – Recent[1]
A live individual of Aegopis verticillus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Order:	Stylommatophora
Suborder:	Helicina
Infraorder:	Limacoidei
Superfamily:	Zonitoidea Mörch, 1864
Family:	Zonitidae Mörch, 1864[2]
Genera
See text

Zonitidae, common name the true glass snails, are a family of mostly rather small, air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Zonitoidea.

Zonitidae is the only family in the superfamily Zonitoidea. The family's type genus is Zonites, established by Pierre Denys de Montfort in 1810. This family has no subfamilies (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005).

Distribution

The distribution of the Zonitidae encompasses the western Palearctic.^[3]

Shell description

The spiral, heliciform shells of these snails are flattened in shape with a very low spire. The shell is perforate or umbilicate. The lip of the aperture is simple, lacking thickened margin. These shells are more or less transparent as if made of glass, hence the popular name "glass snails". The shells are colorless or of an amber to brownish color.^[4]

Biology

Some snails in genera within this family create and use love darts as part of their mating behavior.

In this family, the number of haploid chromosomes lies between 21 and 25 and also lies between 31 and 35, but other values are also possible (according to the values in this table).^[5]

Ecology

These snails live in damp places under stones and similar objects. The true glass snails are usually nocturnal.

Genera

Genera within the family Zonitidae include:

• Aegopis Fitzinger, 1833
• Aegopinella Lindholm, 1927
• Allaegopis Riedel, 1979^[6]
• Balcanodiscus Riedel & Urbanski, 1964
• Brazieria Ancey, 1887
• Doraegopis Riedel, 1982
• Eopolita Pollonera, 1916
• Glyphyalinia Martens, 1892^[7]
• Gollumia Riedel, 1988
• † Macrozonites Wenz, 1919
• Meledella Sturany, 1908
• Mesomphix Rafinesque, 1819^[8]
• Ogaridiscus Dall, 1877^[9]
• Paraegopis Hesse, 1910
• Paravitrea Pilsbry, 1898^[10]
• Retinella Fischer, 1877
• Thasiogenes Riedel, 1998
• Troglaegopis Riedel & Radja, 1983
• Turcozonites Riedel, 1987
• Ventridens Binney & Bland, 1869
• Zonites Montfort, 1810 – type genus

Cladogram

The following cladogram shows the phylogenic relationships of this family to other families in the limacoid clade:^[3]

limacoid clade	Staffordioidea  Staffordiidae  Dyakioidea  Dyakiidae  Gastrodontoidea  Pristilomatidae Chronidae Euconulidae Trochomorphidae Gastrodontidae Oxychilidae  Parmacelloidea  Trigonochlamydidae Parmacellidae Milacidae  Zonitoidea  Zonitidae  Helicarionoidea  Helicarionidae Ariophantidae Urocyclidae  Limacoidea  Vitrinidae Boettgerillidae Limacidae Agriolimacidae

References

1. "Family summary for Zonitidae". AnimalBase, last change 19-09-2006, accessed 4 August 2010.
2. Mörch, 1864. Fortegnelse over de i Danmark forekommende Land- of Ferskvandbløddyr. Videnskabelige Meddelelser fra den Naturhistorisk Forening i Kjöbenhavn, 17–22 (from 1863): 265–367. zonitidae on the page 274.
3. Hausdorf B. (2000). "Biogeography of the Limacoidea sensu lato (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora): Vicariance Events and Long-Distance Dispersal". Journal of Biogeography 27(2): 379–390. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2699.2000.00403.x, JSTOR.
4. George Washington Tryon 1886. Manual of Conchology, volume 2, Zonitidae.
5. Barker G. M.: Gastropods on Land: Phylogeny, Diversity and Adaptive Morphology. in Barker G. M. (ed.): The biology of terrestrial molluscs. CABI Publishing, Oxon, UK, 2001, ISBN 0-85199-318-4. 1–146, cited pages: 139 and 142.
6. "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Allaegopis A. Riedel, 1979". www.marinespecies.org. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
7. Barrientos, Zaidett (2003). "Lista de especies de moluscos terrestres (Archaeogastropoda, Mesogastropoda, Archaeopulmonata, Stylommatophora, Soleolifera) informadas para Costa Rica". Revista de Biología Tropical. 51: 293–304.
8. "Standard Report". ITIS. Interagency Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
9. Turgeon, D.D., J.F. Quinn, Jr., A.E. Bogan, E.V. Coan, F.G. Hochberg, W.G. Lyons, P.M. Mikkelsen, R.J. Neves, C.F.E. Roper, G. Rosenberg, B. Roth, A. Scheltema, F.G. Thompson, M. Vecchione, and J.D. Williams. 1998. Common and scientific names of aquatic invertebrates from the United States and Canada: Mollusks. 2nd Edition. American Fisheries Society Special Publication 26, Bethesda, Maryland: 526 pp.
10. "Standard Report". ITIS. nteragency Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 30 March 2016.

Further reading

• Riedel A. The Zonitidae of Greece. Fauna Graeciae V. 194 pp.
• Schileyko A. A. (2003). "Treatise on recent terrestrial pulmonate mollusks. 10. Ariophantidae, Ostracolethaidae, Ryssotidae, Milacidae, Dyakiidae, Staffordiidae, Gastrodontidae, Zonitidae, Daudebardiidae, Parmacellidae". Ruthenica, Supplement 2. 1309–1466.