Caecidae is a taxonomic family of very small and 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 : Caecinae Gray, 1850 Ctiloceratinae Iredale & Laseron, 1957 Strebloceratinae Bandel, 1996
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
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