Helicidae

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Family of gastropods

title: "Helicidae" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["helicidae", "helicoidea", "gastropod-families", "taxa-named-by-constantine-samuel-rafinesque"] description: "Family of gastropods" topic_path: "general/helicidae" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicidae" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Family of gastropods ::

| image = Helicinae representatives (cropped).jpg | image_caption = From left to right: Roman snail (Helix pomatia), Garden snail (Cornu aspersum) and White-lipped snail (Cepaea hortensis), three species of Helicinae | taxon = Helicidae | authority = Rafinesque, 1815 | subdivision_ranks = Subfamilies | subdivision = *Ariantinae

Helicidae is a large, diverse family of western Palaearctic, medium to large-sized, air-breathing land snails, sometimes called the "typical snails." It includes some of the largest European land snails, several species are common in anthropogenic habitats, and some became invasive on other continents. A number of species in this family are valued as food items, including Cornu aspersum (formerly Helix aspersa; "petit gris") the brown or garden snail, and Helix pomatia (the "escargot"). The biologies of these two species in particular have been thoroughly studied and documented.

Shell description

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Caucasotachea_atrolabiata.jpg" caption="''[[Caucasotachea atrolabiata]]''"] ::

The shells are usually flattened or depressed conical. Globular shells are found in the genera Helix, Maltzanella, Lindholmia, Cornu, Cantareus, Eremina, and Idiomella. One species, Cylindrus obtusus, has a cylindrical shell. In some genera, especially in Cepaea, the shells are brightly colored and patterned.

Anatomy

Helicidae typically have a ribbed jaw, bursa copulatrix with a diverticulum, and one dart sac accompanied by a pair of (usually) branched, tubular mucous glands inserting at the base of the dart sac.

Genetics

In this family, the number of haploid chromosomes lies between 22 and 30.

In the " project, four species (Cepaea nemoralis, Cepaea hortensis, Cornu aspersum, and Arianta arbustorum) are scheduled for whole genome sequencing and assembly ().

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Snails-Italy.jpg" caption="Helicid snails for sale as food in [[Italy]]; from the front ''[[Eobania vermiculata]]'', ''[[Cantareus apertus]]'', and ''Helix'' sp."] ::

Distribution

The core of helicids is distributed in from the Caucasus through Turkey and Europe to North Africa. However, some genera or species live beyond these limits. Helicids occur on Cape Verde (Eremina), Canary Islands (Theba, Hemicycla) and the Madeira Archipelago (Lampadia, Idiomela). Levantina extends far south in western Arabia, and Eremina desertella is distributed as south as Sudan, Eritrea and Puntland in Somalia. Cepaea hortensis lives on Iceland and in a small area in eastern Canada. Some species, notably Cornu aspersum and Theba pisana have been introduced and become established in numerous different areas worldwide.

Taxonomy

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Snail_black_on_grass2.jpg" caption="''[[Arianta arbustorum]]''"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Iberus_gualterianus_alonensis3.JPG" caption="''[[Iberus gualtieranus]] alonensis''"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Snail-wiki-120-Zachi-Evenor.jpg" caption="''[[Cornu aspersum]]''"] ::

The family Helicidae contains 3 subfamilies (according to molecular phylogenetic analyses):

Subfamily [[Helicinae]] Rafinesque, 1815

Genital system anatomy (does not apply on all species, as derived states are found in some of them): mucous glands divided into 2 or more branches, love dart with four blades (vanes) along its length, two penial papillae/verges.

Tribe Allognathini Westerlund, 1903{{Cite journal |last1=Neiber |first1=Marco T. |last2=Chueca |first2=Luis J. |last3=Caro |first3=Amaia |last4=Teixeira |first4=Dinarte |last5=Schlegel |first5=Kevin A. |last6=Gómez-Moliner |first6=Benjamín J. |last7=Walther |first7=Frank |last8=Glaubrecht |first8=Matthias |last9=Hausdorf |first9=Bernhard |date=2021 |title=Incorporating palaeogeography into ancestral area estimation can explain the disjunct distribution of land snails in Macaronesia and the Balearic Islands (Helicidae: Allognathini) |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1055790321001299 |journal=[[Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution]] |language=en |volume=162 |article-number=107196 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2021.107196|pmid=33965538 |url-access=subscription }}

Tribe [[Helicini]] [[Rafinesque]], 1815{{Cite journal |last1=Korábek |first1=Ondřej |last2=Juřičková |first2=Lucie |last3=Petrusek |first3=Adam |date=2021-12-31 |title=Diversity of Land Snail Tribe Helicini (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora: Helicidae): Where Do We Stand after 20 Years of Sequencing Mitochondrial Markers? |journal=Diversity |language=en |volume=14 |issue=1 |page=24 |doi=10.3390/d14010024 |issn=1424-2818 |doi-access=free }}

Tribe Thebini Wenz, 1923{{cite journal |author1=Marco T Neiber |author2=Ondřej Korábek |author3=Matthias Glaubrecht |author4=Bernhard Hausdorf |year=2022 |title=A misinterpreted disjunction: the phylogenetic relationships of the North African land snail ''Gyrostomella'' (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora: Helicidae) |journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=194 |issue=4 |pages=1236–1251 |doi=10.1093/zoolinnean/zlab059}}

A 2022 phylogenetic analysis proposed that all groups of the Maghreb radiation belonged to a single tribe, Thebini, without support for a separate Otalini tribe. The same study proposed a new tribe, Maculariini trib. nov. containing the genus Macularia due to the wide geographic disjunction between the western Alpine Macularia and the primarily Maghrebian Thebini tribe.

Tribe Maculariini Neiber, Korábek, Glaubrecht & Hausdorf, 2021

Subfamily Murellinae Hesse, 1918

Genital system anatomy (does not apply on all species, as derived states are found in some of them): mucous glands weakly branched or undivided, love dart with four blades along its length, one penial papilla.

Distributed in Sardinia, Corsica, the Apennine Peninsula and Sicily.

Subfamily Ariantinae Mörch, 1864{{Cite journal |last1=Groenenberg |first1=Dick S.J. |last2=Subai |first2=Peter |last3=Gittenberger |first3=Edmund |date=2016-01-28 |editor-first= |title=Systematics of Ariantinae (Gastropoda, Pulmonata, Helicidae), a new approach to an old problem |journal=Contributions to Zoology |volume=85 |issue=1 |pages=37–65l |doi=10.1163/18759866-08501003 |issn=1383-4517|doi-access=free }}

Genital system anatomy: mucous glands divided into 2 branches or undivided, love dart with two blades on the tip, one penial papilla.

''Incertae sedis''

References

References

  1. M.P. Kerney & R.A.D. Cameron. 1979. ''A field guide to the land snails of Britain and northwestern Europe''. Collins, London.
  2. Nordsieck, Hartmut. (1987). "Revision des Systems der Helicoidea (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora)". [[Archiv für Molluskenkunde]].
  3. Thiriot-QuiéVreux, Catherine. (2003). "Advances in Chromosomal Studies of Gastropod Molluscs". [[Journal of Molluscan Studies]].
  4. Jickeli, Carl F.. (1874). "Fauna der Land- und Süsswasser-Mollusken Nord-Ost-Afrika's". E. Blochmann & Sohn.
  5. Neubert, Eike. (1998). "Annotated checklist of the terrestrial and freshwater molluscs of the Arabian Peninsula with descriptions of new species". Fauna of Arabia.
  6. (1976). "Climatic Selection in Cepaea hortensis at the Northern Limit of Its Range in Iceland". [[Evolution (journal).
  7. (2010). "Land Snails from St. Elzear Cave, Gaspé Peninsula, Quebec: Antiquity of Cepaea Hortensis in North America". [[Annals of Carnegie Museum]].
  8. (2015-02-01). "Molecular phylogeny of the western Palaearctic Helicoidea (Gastropoda, Stylommatophora)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.
  9. (2015-12-01). "Molecular phylogeny reveals the polyphyly of the snail genus Cepaea (Gastropoda: Helicidae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.
  10. (2022-04-11). "A misinterpreted disjunction: the phylogenetic relationships of the North African land snail Gyrostomella (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora: Helicidae)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
  11. (2020). "Phylogeny, species-limits and taxonomic revision of the Otalini (Helicidae) from north-west Africa". [[Journal of Conchology]].
  12. (2021). "Incorporating palaeogeography into ancestral area estimation can explain the disjunct distribution of land snails in Macaronesia and the Balearic Islands (Helicidae: Allognathini)". [[Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution]].
  13. (2021-12-31). "Diversity of Land Snail Tribe Helicini (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora: Helicidae): Where Do We Stand after 20 Years of Sequencing Mitochondrial Markers?". Diversity.
  14. (2022). "A misinterpreted disjunction: the phylogenetic relationships of the North African land snail ''Gyrostomella'' (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora: Helicidae)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
  15. Hesse, Paul. (1908). "Iconographie der Land- & Süsswasser-Mollusken mit vorzüglicher Berücksichtigung der Europäischen noch nicht abgebildeten Arten. Neu Folge. Vierzehnter Band.". C. W. Kreidel.
  16. (2010). "Historical biogeography of Tyrrhenian land snails: The Marmorana–Tyrrheniberus radiation (Pulmonata, Helicidae)". [[Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution]].
  17. (2016-01-28). "Systematics of Ariantinae (Gastropoda, Pulmonata, Helicidae), a new approach to an old problem". Contributions to Zoology.
  18. Nordsieck, Hartmut. (1987). "Revision des Systems der Helicoidea (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora)". Archiv für Molluskenkunde.
  19. (2015). "Pseudochloritis insignis–a peculiar large land-snail from the Miocene of SW Germany: taxonomic status and census of morphologically related forms". Journal of Conchology.

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