Trissexodontidae is a family of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Helicoidea (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005).
This family has no subfamilies. The family Trissexodontidae was separated out from the families Hygromiidae and Helicodontidae, and some authors still classify these species within those families.
Distribution The distribution of Trissexodontidae includes the Iberian Peninsula, northwest Africa, Azores,"Genus summary for Oestophora". AnimalBase, last modified 17 July 2008, accessed 13 January 2011. Canary Islands, Madeira and Cape Verde."Genus summary for Caracollina". AnimalBase, last modified 17 August 2007, accessed 13 January 2011.
Genera Genera within the family Trissexodontidae include:
Caracollina Beck, 1837Prieto C. E., Puente A. I, Altonaga K. & Gomez J. (1993). "Genital morphology of Caracolina lenticula (Michaud, 1831), with a new proposal of classification of helicodontoid genera (Pulmonata: Hygromioidea)". Malacologia 35(1): 63-77. page 73-74. Gasullia Ortiz de Zárate López, 1962 Gasulliella Gittenberger, 1980 - with only one species, Gasulliella simplicula (Morelet, 1845) Gittenbergeria Schileyko, 1991 Mastigophallus Hesse, 1918 - with only one species, Mastigophallus rangianus (Michaud, 1831) Oestophora Hesse, 1907 Oestophorella Pfeffere, 1929 Trissexodon Pilsbry, 1895 - type genus of the family Trissexodontidae Spirorbula Lowe, 1852 - probable classification, from Madeira and Porto Sancto"Genus taxon summary for Spirorbula". AnimalBase, last modified 09 September 2008, accessed 13 January 2011. Suboestophora Ortiz de Zárate López, 1962"Suboestophora Ortiz de Zarate Lopez 1962". Fauna Europaea, accessed 13 January 2011.
Description Shells of species in the family Trissexodontidae are flat and regularly ribbed. The periostracum of the shell surface has no hairs.
A description of the reproductive system was summarized by Prieto et al. (1993).
In this family, the number of haploid chromosomes is known only for the genus Oestophora (n=30).
References
External links
Nordsieck H. "Higher classification of Helicoidea (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora) and the molecular analyses of their phylogeny".