Litiopidae

Alaba phasianella, photographed by Leon Altoff.

Belongs within: Cerithiimorpha.

The Litiopidae are a family of small marine gastropods found in shallow waters on algae and sea-grasses. They are characterised by a high-spired, conical translucent shell, and a long, narrow foot with a median slit in the rear part of the underside, and several epipodial tentacles along the side.

See also: The litiopids: small sea-snails among the weeds.

<==Litiopidae [Litiopina, Litiopinae]
    |--Astrolaba Laseron 1956 PS10
    |--Diffalaba Iredale 1936 PS10
    |    |--*D. opiniosa Iredale 1936 PS10
    |    |--D. picta (Adams 1961) [=Astrolaba picta] PS10
    |    `--D. vladivostokensis (Bartsch 1929) [=Alaba vladivostokensis] PS10
    |--Litiopa Rang 1829 O27
    |    |--*L. melanostoma Rang 1829 BR17
    |    |--L. acuminata (Baudon 1856) TTE93
    |    |--L. bombyx Rang 1829 O27
    |    `--L. limnophysa H08
    `--Alaba Adams & Adams 1853 O27, H77
         |--*A. trivericosa O27
         |--A. catalinensis Bartsch 1920 O27
         |--A. flammea (Pease 1867) (see below for synonymy) H09
         |--A. incerta (Orbigny 1842) S11
         |--A. jeanettae Bartsch 1910 O27
         |--A. phasianella Angas 1867 H09
         |--A. semistriata Philippi 1849 H09
         |--A. supralirata C64
         `--A. terebralis C64

Alaba flammea (Pease 1867) [=Rissoa flammea non Sabanaea flammea Frauenfeld 1867 (not preoc. if in dif. gen.)] H09

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[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.

[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.

[H08] Hedley, C. 1908. Studies on Australian Mollusca. Part X. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 33: 456–489, pls 7–10.

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

[H77] Houbrick, R. S. 1977. Reevaluation and new description of the genus Bittium (Cerithiidae). Veliger 20 (2): 101–106.

[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).

[PS10] Prozorova, L. A., & T. Y. Sitnikova. 2010. Morphology and systematic implications of juvenile litiopids (Caenogastropoda: Cerithioidea: Litiopidae) from the southern Russian Far East. In: China-Russia Bilateral Symposium: Proceedings of the China-Russia Bilateral Symposium of "Comparison on Marine Biodiversity in the Northwest Pacific Ocean", 10–11 October 2010, Qingdao (China) pp. 142–145. Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences; A. V. Zhirmunsky Institute of Marine Biology, Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

[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.

Last updated: 18 May 2021.