Family RETUSIDAE Thiele, 1925

Family Retusidae: Retusa pelyx (from Beesley, Ross & Wells 1998) [R. Plant]

Museums

Regional Maps

• Retusidae Thiele, J. 1925. Gastropoda der Deutschen Tiefsee-Expedition. II. Teil. pp. in Chun, C. Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse der Deutschen Tiefsee-Expedition auf dem Damfper "Valdivia" 1898–1899. Jena : Gustav Fischer Vol. 17(2) 348 pp., 34 pls.

  Type genus:

   Retusa Brown, 1827.

Introduction

Most retusids are cylindrical with depressed spire, very similar in shell shape to some smaller cylichnids. Some are very pyriform or spindle-shaped. A few retusids retain a small operculum, far smaller than the shell aperture into which the animal retracts. The retusid animal is small, one quarter to one third the shell length, with a pair of rounded lobes projecting from the rear edge of the head on to the anterior shell. All retusids lack a radula. When present, the three gastral plates each have a pimpled, dimpled or crested inner face. Retusids can be especially abundant in intertidal and shallow water, mud and sandy-mud flats. Compiled from Burn (in press).

General References

Beesley, P.L., Ross, G.J.B. & Wells, A. (eds) 1998. Mollusca: The Southern Synthesis. Fauna of Australia. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing Vol. 5(Part B) pp. vi–viii, 565–1234. [950]

Burn, R. 2006. A checklist and bibliography of the Opisthobranchia (Mollusca: Gastropoda) of Victoria and the Bass Strait area, south-eastern Australia. Museum Victoria Science Report 10: 1-42

History of changes