Caecidae
Family of gastropods
title: "Caecidae" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["caecidae", "gastropod-families", "taxa-named-by-john-edward-gray"] description: "Family of gastropods" topic_path: "general/caecidae" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caecidae" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Family of gastropods ::
| image = Caecum glabrum.jpg | image_caption = Caecum glabrum | image2 = Caecum glabrum (protoconch).jpg | image2_caption = Juvenile showing protoconch | taxon = Caecidae | authority = Gray, 1850 | subdivision_ranks = Genera | subdivision = See text
Caecidae is a taxonomic family of minute sea snails or micromolluscs, marine gastropod molluscs in the order Littorinimorpha.
Habitat
These minute tubular shells can be found living in marine sediment, or among algae or sponges, in warm and temperate seas.
Shell description
The shells in this family are unusual in that the adult shell is a curving tube. In the subfamily Caecinae the protoconch is lost, and the tube is sealed with a permanent calcareous plug at one end. In the subfamilies Ctiloceratinae and Strebloceratinae the protoconch is retained. At the other end, the tube is sealed by a circular operculum. The spiral part is almost always lost when outgrowing the juvenile stage. The color of the shell is white to pale yellow.
Taxonomy
This family contains three subfamilies:
Genera
- Caecum Fleming, 1813
- Carinocera Iredale & Laseron, 1957
- Ctiloceras R. B. Watson, 1886
- Elephantanellum Bartsch, 1920
- Elephantulum Carpenter, 1856
- Enigmerces Iredale & Laseron, 1957
- Fartulum Carpenter, 1857
- Gladioceras Iredale & Laseron, 1957
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- Jayella* Iredale & Laseron, 1957
- Mauroceras Vannozzi, 2019
- Meioceras Carpenter, 1859
- Parastrophia de Folin, 1870
- Ponderoceras Bandel, 1996
- Pseudoparastrophia
- Strebloceras Carpenter 1859
- Torresella Iredale & Laseron, 1957
- Transcopia Iredale & Laseron, 1957
- Watsonia de Folin, 1880 (possibly synonymous with Parastrophia) ; Genera brought into synonymy :
- Brochina Gray, 1857: synonym of Caecum Fleming, 1813
- Brochus T. Brown, 1827: synonym of Caecum Fleming, 1813
- Micranellum Bartsch 1900: synonym of Caecum Fleming, 1813
- Moreletia de Folin, 1869: synonym of Parastrophia de Folin, 1869
- Odontidium Philippi, 1836: synonym of Caecum Fleming, 1813
- Pedumicra Iredale & Laseron, 1957: synonym of Parastrophia de Folin, 1869
- Phleboceras de Folin, 1868: synonym of Strebloceras Carpenter, 1859
- Pictocaecum Habe 1978: synonym of Caecum Fleming, 1813
- Spirolidium O. G. Costa, 1861: synonym of Parastrophia de Folin, 1869: synonym
References
- Folin L. de (1875) Monographie de la famille des Caecidae. Bulletin de la Société des Sciences, Lettres et Arts de Bayonne, 1: 103-131, 1 pl
- Vaught, K.C. (1989). A classification of the living Mollusca. American Malacologists: Melbourne, FL (USA). . XII, 195 pp
- Bouchet P. & Rocroi J.-P. (2005). Classification and nomenclator of gastropod families. Malacologia 47(1-2): 1–397
- Pizzini M., Raines B. & Vannozzi A. (2013) The family Caecidae in the South-West Pacific (Gastropoda: Rissooidea). Bollettino Malacologico, 49 (suppl. 10): 1-78.
- WoRMS : Caecidae; accessed : 18 October 2010
- Powell A. W. B., New Zealand Mollusca, William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979
References
- Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S. (2013). Caecidae. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=126 on 2013-06-04
- [http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=534339 WoRMS : Jayella] accessed : 18 October 2010
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