Family PUPILLIDAE Turton, 1831

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Introduction

This is a large family of land snails with a worldwide distribution. The group was revised by Pilsbry (1900) and Baker (1935) and more recently many of the Australian species were reviewed by Solem (1986). Zilch (1959) and Burch (1976) divided the Australian pupoid snails into three families—the Pupillidae, Chondrinidae and Vertiginidae—largely by shell shape and presence and arrangement of apertural teeth and lamellae. This work, however, follows the more recent work of Solem (1981, 1986, 1989, 1991) who suggested that, given the current state of knowledge, it is better to consider all these groups in the single family Pupillidae.

A revision of the subfamily Gastrocoptinae in Australia was undertaken by Pokryszko (1996). Minor changes to the generic classification were made by Stanisic et al. (2010).

The family is characterised by the small sized, cylindrical to pupa-shaped shell, generally with a series of apertural teeth or lamellae.

 

Diagnosis

Australian pupillids have minute to small shells (height less than 7-8mm) with an aperture that usually has barriers. Shells may be dextral or sinistral with shape varying from turbinate to conical and pupiform to elongate. Shells may be either smooth or have sculpture consisting of spiral threads, malleations, wrinkles and axial ribs, sometimes with spines on the whorl periphery. Most are dull and opaque or have a silky lustre and are translucent. Whorls are generally rounded, shouldered or angular and sutures are moderately to strongly impressed. Shells may be imperforate or have a very narrow umbilicus. The aperture is ovate, circular or subquadrate, sometimes with an indentation on the last quarter of the body whorl and the lip is usually reflected. Apertural teeth and barriers are present in some form in most genera. These may consist of a single tooth or many teeth and lamellae. Shell colouration varies from white to brown and often shells have dirt particles adhering to them, which makes them difficult to see in leaf litter, on tree branches and under logs.

 

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. [96]

 

General References

Baker, H.B. 1935. Review of the anatomy of Pupillidae and related groups. pp. 191-209 in Pilsbry, H.A. (ed.). Manual of Conchology. Philadelphia : Conchology Section, Academy of Natural Sciences Ser. 2 Vol. 28 226 pp.

Burch, J.B. 1976. Outline of classification of Australian terrestrial molluscs (native and introduced). Journal of the Malacological Society of Australia 3: 127-156

Iredale, T. 1937. A basic list of the land Mollusca of Australia. The Australian Zoologist 8: 287-333 [12 Mar. 1937]

Pilsbry, H.A. 1900. Note on the Australian Pupidae. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 1900: 426-430

Pokryszko, B.M. 1996. The Gastrocoptinae of Australia (Gastropoda: Pulmonata: Pupilloidea): systematics, distribution and origin. Invertebrate Taxonomy 10: 1085-1150

Smith, B.J. & Kershaw, R.C. 1979. Field Guide to the Non-marine Molluscs of South-eastern Australia. Canberra : A.N.U. Press 285 pp.

Solem, A. 1981. Small land snails from northern Australia. 1. Species of Gyliotrachela Tomlin, 1930 (Mollusca : Pulmonata : Vertiginidae). Journal of the Malacological Society of Australia 5: 87-100

Solem, A. 1986. Pupilloid land snails from the south and mid-west coasts of Australia. Journal of the Malacological Society of Australia 7: 95-124

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

Solem, A. 1991. Distribution and diversity patterns of Australian pupilloid land snails (Mollusca: Pulmonata: Pupillidae, s.l.). Veliger 34(3): 233-252

Stanisic, J. 1998. Family Pupillidae. pp. 1082-1084 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.

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. [96-109, 566-567]

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.

Zilch, A. 1959. Gastropoda. Teil 2. Euthyneura. In, Schindewolf, O.H. (ed.). Handbuch der Paläozoologie. Berlin-Zehlendorf : Bornträger Vol. 6(2)(2) xii 834 pp.

 

Common Name 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. (Pupasnails)

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
24-Jul-2012		24-Jul-2012	MODIFIED
27-Jun-2012		18-Jul-2012	MODIFIED
		12-Feb-2010	(import)