Family PUPINIDAE

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Introduction

Pupuinids are cyclophoridian caenogastropod land snails that are usually found in litter in wet forests of south-eastern Asia, through Melanesia, Micronesia, Papua New Guinea and eastern Australia.
The shells are solid and ovoid, either globose or slender, often with a glossy or porcellaneous texture, sometimes with axial ribs. The aperture is more or less circular with a thickened peristome and typically two (sometimes only one) accessory breathing canals, one anteriorly placed, the other posterior. The operculum is circular to oval, mainly horny, but with some calcareous elements. There has been no modern revision of the Australian species, though Solem (1959) made a useful contribution to the understanding of the family in the region and Stanisic (1998) provided a summary of present knowledge.

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.

Solem, A. 1959. Systematics of the land and freshwater Mollusca of the New Hebrides. Fieldiana Zoology 43: 1-234

Stanisic, J. 1998. Family Pupinidae. pp. 704-705 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.

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