Odostomellinae

Taxobox
name = Odostomellinae


image_width = 240px
image_caption =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Gastropoda
subclassis = Orthogastropoda
ordo = Heterostropha
superfamilia = Pyramidelloidea
familia = Pyramidellidae
subfamilia = Odostomellinae
subfamilia_authority = Saurin, 1958
subdivision_ranks = Genera
subdivision = See text.

Odostomellinae is a taxonomic subfamily of minute sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs within the family Pyramidellidae the pyrams and their allies. This is one of eleven recognised subfamilies of the family Pyramidellidae (according to the taxonomy of Ponder & Lindberg, 1997).The subfamily contains two genera; Herviera and Odostomella (Schander and co-workers 1999).

In the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005), this subfamily has been downgraded to the rank of tribe Odostomellini Saurin, 1959 in the subfamily Pyramidellinae Gray, 1840 .

Genera

* "Odostomella" Bucquoy, Dautzenberg & Dollfus, 1883 (Type genus)
* "Heviera" Melvill & Standen, 1899

Distribution

The subfamily occurs in tropic and temperate seas.

hell description

The shell of these snails has a blunt, heterostrophic protoconch, which is wrapped up. The texture of these shells is sculptured with ribs. Their color is mostly white, brown, cream or yellowish, sometimes with red or brown lines. The teleoconch is coiled, but the larval shells are . This results in a sinistrally coiled protoconch. The aperture is closed by an operculum.

Life habits

The Odostomellinae are ectoparasites, but the hosts are unknown.

They do not have a radula. Instead their long proboscis is used to pierce the skin of its prey and suck up its fluids and soft tissues. The eyes on the grooved tentacles are situated toward the base of the tentacles. Between the head and the foot, a lobed process called the mentum ( = thin projection) is visible.

These molluscs are hermaphrodites, laying eggs in jelly-like masses on the shell of its host. Some species have spermatophores (Schander, Hori & Lundberg, 1999)

References

* cite journal
author = Bouchet, P. & Rocroi, J.-P.
year = 2005
date=
title = Classification and Nomenclator of Gastropod Families
journal = Malacologia
volume =47
issue = 1-2
pages = 1–397
issn =
doi =
* cite journal
author = Ponder, W.F. & Lindberg, D. R.
year = 1997
date=
title = Towards a phylogeny of gastropod molluscs: an analysis using morphological characters
journal = Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society
volume =119
issue =
pages = 88–265
issn =
doi =
* cite journal
author = Saurin, E.
year = 1958
date=
title = Pyramidellidae de Pho-Hai (Sud Viet-Nam)
journal = Annales de la Faculté des Sciences de Saigon
volume =35
issue =
pages = 63–86
issn =
doi =
* cite journal
author = Schander, C., van Aartsen, J. J., Corgan, J. C.
year = 1999
date=
title = Families and genera of the Pyramidelloidea (Mollusca: Gastropoda)
journal = Bollettino Malacologico
volume =34
issue = 9-12
pages = 145–166
issn =
doi =
* cite journal
author = Schander, C., Hori, S., Lundberg, J.
year = 1999
date=
title = Anatomy, Phylogeny and biology of Odostomella and Herviera, with the description of a new species of Odostomella (Mollusca, Heterostropha, Pyramidellidae)
journal = Ophelia
volume =51
issue = 1
pages = 39–76
issn =
doi =