Cerithiidae, common name the cerithiids or ceriths, is a large family of medium-sized marine gastropods in the clade Sorbeoconcha.

Cerithiidae
Apertural view of a shell of Rhinoclavis vertagus.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Superfamily: Cerithioidea
Family: Cerithiidae
Fleming, 1822[1]
Diversity[2]
71 extant species of Bittiinae

114 extant species of Cerithiinae

Fossil Bittium reticulatum.
50 second video of snails (most likely Natica chemnitzi and Cerithium muscarum) feeding on the sea floor in the Gulf of California, Puerto Peñasco, Mexico

Distribution

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Ceriths are found worldwide on sandy bottoms, reef flats or coral reef rock covered with sand and algae in the sublittoral zone[littoral or neritic? clarification needed] of warm or temperate waters. Most are found in tropical areas. A few occur along the European coastline and about 30 species in two genera are found along the American coast. A few species occur in estuarine areas of mangrove forests close to the sea. Only a few species of the subfamily Bittiinae are found in deep water.

Diet

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Ceriths are herbivores and detritivores that graze the sea bed.

Description

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Their slender shell is elongated with a pointed spire. They vary in size from 3 mm (Bittium alternatum) to 150 mm (Cerithium nodulosum). The smallest shells are found in the subfamily Bittiinae.

The many whorls have radial sculpture with axial ridges and nodules. The aperture shows at its base a vague curve or a distinct siphonal canal. The aperture is closed off by a thin oval brown operculum that is corneous and paucispiral. The palatal wall of the aperture is somewhat enlarged and often shows a varix.

The taenioglossan radula has seven teeth in each row. The single rachidian tooth is flanked on each side by one rhomboidal lateral tooth and two long, hook-like marginal teeth.

Taxonomy

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Subfamilies

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The following three subfamilies have been recognized in the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005):[3]

Bandel (2006)[5] used different classification: Bittiinae on its own family level named Diastomatidae (overview of WoRMS).

Some authors classify Argyropezinae Bandel, 2006 as a synonym of Bittiinae.[6]

Genera

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The following genera are recognised in the family Cerithiidae:[7]

References

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  1. ^ Fleming, John (1822). The philosophy of zoology 2: 491.
  2. ^ Strong E. E., Colgan D. J., Healy J. M., Lydeard C., Ponder W. F. & Glaubrecht M. (2011). "Phylogeny of the gastropod superfamily Cerithioidea using morphology and molecules". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 162(1): 43-89. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2010.00670.x.
  3. ^ a b c d Bouchet, Philippe; Rocroi, Jean-Pierre; Frýda, Jiri; Hausdorf, Bernard; Ponder, Winston; Valdés, Ángel & Warén, Anders (2005). "Classification and nomenclator of gastropod families". Malacologia. 47 (1–2). Hackenheim, Germany: ConchBooks: 1–397. ISBN 3-925919-72-4. ISSN 0076-2997.
  4. ^ Cossmann (1906). Essais de paléoconchologie comparée 7: 64, 137.
  5. ^ Bandel K. (2006). "Families of the Cerithioidea and related superfamilies (Palaeo-Caenogastropoda; Mollusca) from the Triassic to the Recent characterized by protoconch morphology - including the description of new taxa". Freiberger Forschungshefte C 511: 59-138. PDF[permanent dead link].
  6. ^ Gofas, S. (2011). Bittiinae. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=411649 on 2011-06-26
  7. ^ "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Cerithiidae J. Fleming, 1822". www.marinespecies.org. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
  • Houbrick R. S. (1978). The family Cerithiidae in the Indo-Pacific. Part 1. The genera Rhinoclavis, Pseudovertagus and Clavocerithium. Monographs of Marine Mollusca 1: 1–130.
  • Houbrick R. S. (1992). Monograph of the genus Cerithium Bruguiere in the Indo-Pacific (Cerithiidae--Prosobranchia). 211 p., Smithsonian Institution Press (Washington, D.C.)], PDF.
  • Wood, Elvira. The Phylogeny of Certain Cerithidae, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Volume XXIV, New York, May 1910, pp. 1–92, Pl. I-IX.
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