Family ONCHIDIIDAE Rafinesque, 1815
Compiler and date details
Brian J. Smith, Queen Victoria Museum, Launceston Shannon Reid and Winston F. Ponder, Australian Museum, Sydney
Introduction
Group of small to large marine molluscs with no internal or external shell. The notum is smooth, or more usually papillate or tuberculate. Each of the single pair of retractable tentacles bears a terminal eye and the dorsal surface of the animal often has small eye-like structures. The foot is broad and large.
Bretnall (1919) revised the Australian and near Pacific species. Britton (1984) presented an overview of the world Onchidioidea in which the status and main characters of the family and genera were reviewed and redefined. Based on this revision the family contains twelve genera.
Onchidiids live in the littoral zone, mostly in estuaries and mangrove areas. They occur in the temperate zones to the tropics, but are most diverse in the Indo-West Pacific (Andaman Island to the Philippines to New Caledonia).They occur along most coasts of Australia but are absent from south-western Australia.
General References
Bretnall, B.W. 1919. Onchidiidae from Australia and the South-Western Pacific Islands. Records of the Australian Museum 12: 303-328
Britton, K.M. 1984. The Onchidiacea (Gastropoda, Pulmonata) of Hong Kong with a worldwide review of the genera. Journal of Molluscan Studies 50: 179-191
Hyman, I. 1999. A comparison of two onchidiids species (Mollusca: Pulmonata). Molluscan Research 20(1): 61-72
Stanisic, J. 1998. Family Onchidiidae. pp. 1063-1064 in Beesley, P.L., Ross, G.J.B. & Wells, A. (eds). Mollusca: The Southern Synthesis. Fauna of Australia. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing Vol. 5(Part B) pp. vi–viii, 565–1234.
History of changes
| Published | As part of group | Action Date | Action Type | Compiler(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12-Feb-2010 | (import) |