Pterotracheidae

Taxobox
name = Pterotracheidae


image_caption =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Gastropoda
subclassis = Orthogastropoda
superordo = Caenogastropoda
ordo = Sorbeoconcha
subordo = Hypsogastropoda
infraordo = Littorinimorpha
superfamilia = Pterotracheoidea
familia = Pterotracheidae
familia_authority = Rafinesque-Schmaltz, 1814
subdivision_ranks = Genera
subdivision = See text.

Pterotracheidae is a family of medium-sized to large floating sea snails, pelagic gastropod molluscs. They are in the superfamily Pterotracheoidea along with two other similar pelagic families, the Atlantidae and the Carinariidae.

These pelagic snails are not at all closely related to the pelagic heterobranch opistobranchs such as the sea angels and sea butterflies. They are in the infraorder Littorinimorpha, and as such they are related to such families as the tritons (Ranellidae) and the tun shells (Tonnidae), in the order Sorbeoconcha and the superorder Caenogastropoda.

Genera within the family Pterotracheidae

* "Firoloida" Lesueur, 1817
* "Pterotrachea" Forskal, 1775

References

* [http://tolweb.org/Pterotracheidae/28734 Tree of Life: Pterotracheidae]
*
* Powell A. W. B., "New Zealand Mollusca", William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 ISBN 0-00-216906-1