Bythinellidae is a family of small freshwater snails with an operculum, aquatic gastropod molluscs in the order Littorinimorpha.MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Bythinellidae Locard, 1893. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=724571 on 2020-06-27
Characteristics (Original description in French) The shell is small and either turban-shaped or tower-shaped, with a narrow umbilicus and an entire aperture. The operculum is horny or calcareous and may be concentric, spiral, or nearly spiral.
Their minute shell is often colored. They are characterized by a calcareous operculum, a lobe on the upper surface of the neck. The ctenidium, the respiratory gill-comb, is very broad. They have a ciliary feeding habit. The kidney has a large extension towards the mantle.
Genera Genera in the family Bythinellidae include: Bythinella Moquin-Tandon, 1856
Genera brought into synonymy Acrophlyctis Cossmann, 1888 †: synonym of Bythinella (Acrophlyctis) Cossmann, 1888 † represented as Bythinella Moquin-Tandon, 1856 Bithinella [sic]: synonym of Bythinella Moquin-Tandon, 1856 (incorrect subsequent spelling) Bithynella Moquin-Tandon, 1856: synonym of Bythinella Moquin-Tandon, 1856 (incorrect subsequent spelling) Bythynella: synonym of Bythinella Moquin-Tandon, 1856 (invalid: incorrect subsequent spelling) Microna Frauenfeld, 1863: synonym of Bythinella Moquin-Tandon, 1856 Terrestribythinella Sitnikova, Starobogatov & V. Anistratenko, 1992: synonym of Bythinella Moquin-Tandon, 1856 (junior subjective synonym)
References
External links
Wilke T., Haase M., Hershler R., Liu H.-P., Misof B. & Ponder W. (2013) Pushing short DNA fragments to the limit: Phylogenetic relationships of ‘hydrobioid' gastropods (Caenogastropoda: Rissooidea). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 66: 715-736