Seguenziidae is a family of very small deepwater sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Seguenzioidea (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005).Bouchet, P. (2012). Seguenziidae. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=23116 on 2013-03-26
Distribution Species from this family occur in the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the Antarctic Ocean, mostly at bathyal and abyssal depths. Only a few species have been found at depths less than 300 m and none at intertidal depths.Marshall, B.A. 1983: Recent and Tertiary Seguenziidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) from the New Zealand region. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 10: 235-262
Description The thin, translucent, white shell has a trochiform shape. They are small or very small. Their maximum height is 22 mm. They are usually nacreous. The inner lip has often a tooth-like fold. The outer lip has characteristically one to three concave notches (except in the genus Guttula). The chitinous operculum is multispiral. The rhipidoglossan radula has intermediate characteristics of the former order Archaeogastropoda (by having more than two pairs of marginal teeth) and the former order Mesogastropoda (by having a single pair of lateral teeth).
Taxonomy This family consists of four following subfamilies (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005) with the following genera WoRMS : Seguenziidae; accessed : 13 September 2010
Asthelysinae Marshall, 1991 Anxietas Iredale, 1917 Asthelys Quinn, 1987 Eratasthelys Marshall, 1991 Thelyssina Marshall, 1983 Davisianinae Egorova, 1972 - synonyms: Putillinae F. Nordsieck, 1972; Oligomeriinae Egorov, 2000 Davisiana Egorova, 1972 Oligomeria Galkin & Golikov, 1985 Guttulinae Goryachev, 1987 Guttula Schepman, 1908 Sericogyra Marshall, 1988 Seguenziinae Verrill, 1884 tribe Fluxinellini Marshall, 1991 Ancistrobasis Dall, 1889 Basilissa Watson, 1879 Basilissopsis Dautzenberg & Fischer, 1897 Calliobasis Marshall, 1983 Fluxinella Marshall, 1983 Thelyssa Bayer, 1971 Visayaseguenzia Poppe, Tagaro & Dekker, 2006 tribe Seguenziini Verrill, 1884 Carenzia Quinn, 1983 Hadroconus Quinn, 1987 Halystes Marshall, 1988 Halystina Marshall, 1991 Quinnia Marshall, 1988 Rotellenzia Quinn, 1987 Seguenzia Jeffreys, 1876: the type genus Seguenziopsis Marshall, 1983 Unassigned : Bathymargarites Warén & Bouchet, 1989 Genera brought into synonymy Fluxiella Okutani, 1968: synonym of Fluxinella B.A. Marshall, 1983 Seguenziella Marshall, 1983: synonym of Quinnia Marshall, 1988
References
Seguenza, G. 1876: Studii stratigrafici sulla formazione pliocenica dell'ltalia Meridionale. Bollettino del Regio Comitato Geologico d'Italia 5 & 6: 179-189 Goryachev, W. N. (1979): On the system of deep-sea molluscan family Seguenziidae. P. 70-71 in: Likharev, I. M. ed., Molluscs: main results of their study - abstracts of communications. U.S.S.R Academy of Sciences Zoological Institute, sixth meeting on the investigation of molluscs. Nauka Bandel, K. (1979): The nacreous layer in the shells of the gastropod family Seguenziidae and its taxonomic significance. Biomineralisation 10 : 49 - 61 Quinn J.F. (1983). A revision of the Seguenziacea Verrill, 1884 (Gastropoda : Prosobranchia). I. Summary and evaluation of the superfamily. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 96(4):725-757 Marshall B.A. (1991). Mollusca Gastropoda : Seguenziidae from New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands. In A. Crosnier & P. Bouchet (Eds) Résultats des campagnes Musorstom, vol. 7. Mémoires du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, A, 150:41-109
External links Seashells of NSW info