Potamididae

Live individual of Telescopium telescopium, photographed by Ria Tan.

Belongs within: Cerithiimorpha.

The Potamididae, horn snails, are a family of gastropods inhabiting brackish habitats such as among mangroves or on mud flats. They possess high-spired shells with a flaring aperture bearing an anterior siphon and medial sinus on the outer lip. In members of the genus Cerithidea, the shell is longitudinally ribbed and the aperture is rounded below with the outer lip expanded and thickened. Species of Potamides have the whorls angulated and coronated; the aperture is prolonged into a nearly straight canal in front and the outer lip is thin and sinuous (Oldroyd 1927).

<==Potamididae [Potamidinae]
    |--Mesohalina R89
    |--Gantechinobathra JB12
    |--Echinobathra vicina (Verneuil & Lorrière 1868) TTE93
    |--Ptychopotamides TTE93
    |--Eotympanotonus TTE93
    |--Telescopium Montfort 1810 [Telescopiidae] BR05
    |    |--T. telescopium (Linnaeus 1758) WG71 (see below for synonymy)
    |    `--T. fuscum F66
    |--Pirenella Gray 1847 BD86, O27
    |    |--P. cailliaudi (Potiez & Michaud 1838) [incl. P. conica] BD86
    |    `--P. cyclus (Dall 1919) [=Potamides (Pirenella) cyclus] O27
    |--Terebralia Swainson 1840 WG71
    |    |--T. bidentata (Defrance in Grateloup 1840) GK02
    |    |--T. semistriatus W08
    |    `--T. sulcata Bruguière 1792 WG71
    |--Potamides Brongniart 1810 BR05
    |    |--*P. (Potamides) lamarckii Brongniart 1810 BR17
    |    `--P. (Liocerithium Tryon 1887) O27
    |         `--P. (L.) sculptum (Sowerby 1855) [=Cerithium sculptum] O27
    |--Tympanotonos Schumacher 1817 (see below for synonymy) PB27
    |    |--T. fuscatus (Linnaeus 1758) (see below for synonymy) PB27
    |    |--T. cingulatus (Gmelin 1791) PB27 (see below for synonymy)
    |    |--‘Potamis’ ebeninus C64
    |    `--T. margaritaceus (Brocchi 1814) GK02
    |--Velacumantus Iredale 1936 WG71
    |    `--V. australis Quoy & Gaimard 1834 WG71
    `--Cerithidea Swainson 1840 [Cerithideidae, Cerithideinae] BR17
         |--*C. lineolata (Gray 1833) [=Melania lineolata] BR17
         |--C. californica Haldeman 1840 O27
         |--C. cingulata G88
         |--C. cornea G88
         |--C. costata (da Costa 1778) S11
         |    |--C. c. costata BC01
         |    `--C. c. beattyi Bequaert 1942 [incl. C. costata f. barbudaensis Usticke 1969] BC01
         |--C. decollata O27
         |--C. kieneri (Hombr. & Jacq. 1853) [=Cerithium kieneri] H09
         |--C. largillierti (Philippi 1848) [=Cerithium largillierti] H09
         |--C. mazatlanica [incl. C. albonodosa] C64
         |--C. montagnei C64
         |--C. obtusa G88
         |--C. quadrata G88
         |--C. sacrata [incl. C. fuscata Gould 1856, Potamis pullatus Gould 1855, C. pullata] C64
         `--C. valida (Adams 1852) [incl. Potamides meta Li 1930] BC01

Telescopium telescopium (Linnaeus 1758) WG71 [=Trochus telescopium BR17, Pyrazus telescopium H09, *Telescopium indicator Montfort 1810 BR17]

Tympanotonos Schumacher 1817 [=Tympanotomus (l. c.), Tympanotonus Agassiz 1846, Tympanostoma (l. c.); incl. Potamis Sowerby 1839] PB27

Tympanotonos cingulatus (Gmelin 1791) PB27 [=Murex cingulatus PB27, Potamides (Tympanotonos) cingulatus PB27, Pyrazus cingulatus H09]

Tympanotonos fuscatus (Linnaeus 1758) [=Murex fuscatus, Potamides (Tympanotomus [l. c.]) fuscatus, Potamides (Tympanotonos) fuscatus; incl. Nerita aculeata Müller 1774, Murex fluviatilis Gmelin 1791, *Tympanotonos fluviatilis Schumacher 1817, Cerithium muricatum Bruguière 1792, Potamides fuscatus var. muricatus, *Potamis muricatus, Tympanotonos owenii Reeve 1866, Potamides (Tympanotomus [l. c.]) oweni, Murex radula Linnaeus 1758, Potamides (Tympanotomus) fuscatus var. radula, M. terebella Gmelin 1791] PB27

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[BD86] Barash, A., & Z. Danin. 1986. Further additions to the knowledge of Indo-Pacific Mollusca in the Mediterranean Sea (Lessepsian migrants). Spixiana 9 (2): 117–141.

[BR05] Bouchet, P., & J.-P. Rocroi. 2005. Classification and nomenclator of gastropod families. Malacologia 47 (1–2): 1–397.

[BR17] Bouchet, P., J.-P. Rocroi, B. Hausdorf, A. Kaim, Y. Kano, A. Nützel, P. Parkhaev, M. Schrödl & E. E. Strong. 2017. Revised classification, nomenclator and typification of gastropod and monoplacophoran families. Malacologia 61 (1–2): 1–526.

[BC01] Boyko, C. B., & J. R. Cordeiro. 2001. Catalog of Recent type specimens in the Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History. V. Mollusca, part 2 (class Gastropoda [exclusive of Opisthobranchia and Pulmonata], with supplements to Gastropoda [Opisthobranchia], and Bivalvia). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 262: 1–170.

[C64] Carpenter, P. P. 1864. Supplementary report on the present state of our knowledge with regard to the Mollusca of the west coast of North America. Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science 33: 517–686.

[F66] Fraser, L. 1866. Communication of a list of mollusks collected by R. Swinhoe, Esq., in Formosa. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 146.

[G88] Gray, J. 1988. Evolution of the freshwater ecosystem: the fossil record. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 62: 1–214.

[GK02] Gründel, J., & T. Kowalke. 2002. Palaeorissoinidae, a new family of marine and brackish water Rissooidea (Gastropoda, Littorinimorpha). Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie Abhandlungen 226 (1): 43–57.

[H09] Hedley, C. 1909. The Marine Fauna of Queensland: Address by the President of Section D. Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science: Brisbane.

[JB12] Johnson, M. E., & B. G. Baarli. 2012. Development of intertidal biotas through Phanerozoic time. In: Talent, J. A. (ed.) Earth and Life: Global biodiversity, extinction intervals and biogeographic perturbations through time pp. 63–128. Springer.

[O27] Oldroyd, I. S. 1927. The Marine Shells of the West Coast of North America vol. 2 pt. 3. Stanford University Press: Stanford University (California).

[PB27] Pilsbry, H. A., & J. Bequaert. 1927. The aquatic mollusks of the Belgian Congo, with a geographical and ecological account of Congo malacology. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 53 (2): 69–602, pls 10–77.

[R89] Reid, D. G. 1989. Systematic revision of the Recent species of Peasiella Nevill, 1885 (Gastropoda: Littorinidae), with notes on the fossil species. Nautilus 103 (2): 43–69.

[S11] Simone, L. R. L. 2011. Phylogeny of the Caenogastropoda (Mollusca), based on comparative morphology. Arquivos de Zoologia 42 (4): 161–323.

[TTE93] Tracey, S., J. A. Todd & D. H. Erwin. 1993. Mollusca: Gastropoda. In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 131–167. Chapman & Hall: London.

[W08] Wilson, B. 2008. Background information on Faure Island, Shark Bay, Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 75: 1–9.

[WG71] Wilson, B. R., & K. Gillett. 1971. Australian Shells: illustrating and describing 600 species of marine gastropods found in Australian waters. A. H. & A. W. Reed: Sydney.

Last updated: 19 February 2022.