Family CERASTIDAE Wenz, 1923

Museums

Regional Maps

Introduction

The Cerastidae is a small family of small to medium-sized (up to 20 mm shell length) snails with a Gondwanan origin (Solem 1989). This family was formerly referred to as a subfamily of Enidae the other part of which is native to Europe. However, these are now considered separate families with different origins (Mordan 1984, 1992). Cerastids are found in eastern Africa, Madagascar, India and Sri Lanka, New Guinea and northern Australia. One species, Amimopina macleayi, is native to northern Australia and southern New Guinea (Solem 1964, 1989). A second species, an introduced species, Rhachistia histrio, is probably native to eastern Africa, and spread through the tropical Indo-Pacific and Australia by commerce (Solem 1964; Stanisic 1998).

The Australian cerastids are arboreal in habitat, though some overseas species are ground-dwelling. Cerastids range from semi-arid shrubland to lowland tropical forests and montane areas. Australian species are vine thicket dwellers.

Solem (1989) concluded that individuals of Amimopina macleayi become reproductively active only in their third wet season though very little is known of the general biology of the Australian species.

Diagnosis

Cerastids have medium to large (to over 40 mm in shell height) thin shells that range from globosely conic to elongate in shape. Whorls are generally rounded with moderately impressed sutures. Sculpture varies from very smooth to having fine spiral lines or malleations. The aperture is generally oval with a thin and undifferentiated lip although some overseas taxa have greatly thickened and reflected lips. The columella varies from medium to wide and the shell may be imperforate or have a narrow umbilicus. Shells are opaque to translucent and colour pattern varies considerably, from densely patterned with combinations of spiral bands, dashes or spots and richly coloured to monochrome without any patterning. Cerastid animals may also be strongly pigmented and some species possess a tail crest which varies in shape between genera.

Diagnosis References

Stanisic, J., Shea, M., Potter, D. & Griffiths, O. 2010. Australian Land Snails. A field guide to eastern Australian species. Mauritius : Bioculture Press Vol. 1 595 pp. [112]

General References

Mordan, P.B. 1984. Taxonomy and biogeography of southern Arabian Enidae (sensu lato) (Pulmonata : Pupillacea). pp. 124-133 in Solem, A. & Van Bruggen, A.C. (eds). World-Wide Snails. Biogeographical Studies on Non-Marine Mollusca. Leiden : Brill.

Mordan, P.B. 1992. The morphology and phylogeny of the Cerastinae (Pulmonata; Pupilloidea). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Zoology 50: 207-271

Solem, A. 1964. Amimopina, an Australian enid land snail. Veliger 6: 115-120

Solem, A. 1989. Non-camaenid land snails of the Kimberley and Northern Territory, Australia. I. Systematics, affinities and ranges. Invertebrate Taxonomy 2(4): 455-604 [516-519]

Stanisic, J. 1998. Superfamily Partuloidea. pp. 1085-1086 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