Family DIPLOMMATINIDAE

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Introduction

The Diplommatinidae are small operculate land snails in the caenogastropod superfamily Cyclophoroidea. They occur in south-eastern Asia, eastern Australia and the islands of the western Pacific (plus a possible genus in the West Indies). The shell is often strongly sculptured with axial or spiral ribs and the shell coiling is often uneven and irregular. The aperture is small and circular and the operculum circular and multispiral. The species are litter dwellers, often in limestone outcrops in wet forest. In Australia they are confined to the eastern tropical and subtropical forests and Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands. There is no modern revision of the Australian species, but Stanisic (1998) summarised the available information on the family.

A related group, Cochlostomatidae, is found in Europe and is sometimes treated as a subfamily.

General References

Benthem Jutting, W.S.S. van 1948. Systematic studies on the non-marine Mollusca of the Indo-Australian Archipelago. I. Critical revision of the Javanese operculate land-shells of the families Hydrocenidae, Helicinidae, Cyclophoridae, Pupinidae and Cochlostomatidae. Treubia 19: 539-604

Cox, J.C. 1907. A List of Cyclophoridae found in Australia, New Guinea and Adjacent Groups of Islands. Sydney : J.C. Cox 28 pp.

Iredale, T. 1944. The land Mollusca of Lord Howe Island. The Australian Zoologist 10: 299-334 [10 May 1944]

Iredale, T. 1945. The land Mollusca of Norfolk Island. The Australian Zoologist 11: 46-71

Stanisic, J. 1998. Family Diplommatinidae. pp. 705-706 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.

Tillier, S. 1981. Clines, convergence and character displacement in New Caledonian diplommatinids (land prosobranchs). Malacologia 21: 177-208

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