Potamididae

Potamididae
Temporal range: Middle Eocene[1]-Recent
A live individual of Terebralia palustris
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Superfamily: Cerithioidea
Family: Potamididae
H. Adams & A. Adams, 1854
Synonyms
  • Telescopiidae Allan, 1950
  • Cerithideidae Houbrick, 1988

Potamididae, common name potamidids (also known as horn snails or mudwhelks) are a family of small to large brackish water snails that live on mud flats, mangroves and similar habitats.[1] They are amphibious gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Cerithioidea.

Traditionally, potamidids and batillariids have been confused because they have similar shells and they live in similar environments. For many fossil taxa the family assignment to either of these two families is still unresolved or controversial.[1]

According to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi (2005) the family Potamididae has no subfamilies.[2]

  1. ^ a b c Reid, D. G.; Dyal, P.; Lozouet, P.; Glaubrecht, M.; Williams, S. T. (2008). "Mudwhelks and mangroves: The evolutionary history of an ecological association (Gastropoda: Potamididae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 47 (2): 680–699. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2008.01.003. PMID 18359643.
  2. ^ Bouchet, Philippe; Rocroi, Jean-Pierre; Frýda, Jiri; Hausdorf, Bernard; Ponder, Winston; Valdés, Ángel & Warén, Anders (2005). "Classification and nomenclator of gastropod families". Malacologia. 47 (1–2). Hackenheim, Germany: ConchBooks: 1–397. ISBN 3-925919-72-4. ISSN 0076-2997.