Clausiliidae | |
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Cochlodina laminata | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Gastropoda |
Order: | Stylommatophora |
Suborder: | Helicina |
Infraorder: | Clausilioidei |
Superfamily: | Clausilioidea |
Family: | Clausiliidae J. E. Gray, 1855[1] |
Type genus | |
Clausilia Draparnaud, 1805
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Clausiliidae, also known by the common name door snails, is a taxonomic family of small, very elongate, mostly left-handed, air-breathing land snails, sinistral terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks.[2]
With over 1700 recognized recent and fossil species,[2] this is among the most diverse families of terrestrial gastropods (cf. Orthalicidae), although the marine gastropod family Pyramidellidae is larger.
Most species of Clausiliidae have an anatomical structure known as a clausilium, which enables the snail to close off the aperture of the shell with a sliding "door".