Buccinidae

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Buccinidae
Penion maximus (Tryon, 1881).jpg
Apertural view of a shell of Penion maximus , anterior end towards the bottom of the page
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Order: Neogastropoda
Superfamily: Buccinoidea
Family: Tudiclidae
Rafinesque, 1815
Type genus
Buccinum
Genera

See text

Synonyms [1]
  • Cominellidae
  • Donovaniinae
  • Cytharinae Thiele, 1929
  • Mangeliinae P. Fischer, 1883
  • Oenopotinae Bogdanov, 1987

The Buccinidae are a very large and diverse taxonomic family of large sea snails, often known as whelks or true whelks. [1] [2]

Contents

The family includes more than 1500 species.

Taxonomy

The family Busyconidae was for a time treated as a subfamily of Buccinidae called Busyconinae.

Genera Antillophos , Engoniophos , Phos , Nassaria , Tomlinia , Anentome and Clea were treated within family Buccinidae, but they were moved to Nassariidae in 2016. [3]

Habitat

The true whelks occur worldwide in all seas from tropical oceans to the cold seas of the Arctic Ocean and the Southern Ocean. [2] They are found from the intertidal to the bathypelagic zones. Most prefer a solid bottom, but some inhabit sandy substrates.

Description

A siphon whelk Penion ormesi, collected from Golden Bay in New Zealand. Penion jeakingsi.png
A siphon whelk Penion ormesi , collected from Golden Bay in New Zealand.

The shells of species in this family are moderate to large in size, conical to fusiform in shape. The shell often has deep sutures. The shell surface is generally smooth, sometimes with a spiral and/ or axial sculpture. The thickness of the shell is more pronounced in tropical shallow-water species, while the shell of species living in moderate and colder waters is generally thin or moderately thin. The top of the whorls are more or less shouldered. The radial ribs of the shell sometimes show shoulder knobs. The aperture is large with a well-defined siphonal canal. The rim of the aperture is sometimes used to pry open the shell of bivalves. The aperture is closed by a horny operculum.

The soft body is elongated and spiral. The head has two conical, depressed tentacles which bear the eyes on a lobe or prominence at their base. The mouth contains a long, cylindrical, annulated proboscis and a small tongue. The mantle forms a thin-edged flap over the branchial cavity. On the left side, it has an elongated, open canal, that emerges by a notch or groove in the shell. The two gills are elongated, unequal and pectinate (i.e. in a comb-like arrangement). The large foot is generally broad. [4]

True whelks are carnivores and scavengers. [2] They feed on clams, carrion, and sometimes even on detritus. Their sense of smell is very well-developed; they can sense chemical signals from their prey from a considerable distance with their osphradia. Many whelks are capable of boring through the shell of bivalves, and because of this, some species cause much harm in oyster farms. True whelks can even attack fish caught in a net by extending their probosces to twice the length of their own bodies.

The female whelk lays spongy egg capsules with hundreds of eggs. These form round clusters or a tower-shaped masses. Only about 10% of these eggs hatch. The larvae then feed on the rest of the eggs that have not yet hatched.

The flesh of the common northern whelk, Buccinum undatum , is much appreciated by connoisseurs as a food item, but its consumption is currently somewhat in decline.

The empty shell of a whelk is often used by the hermit crab to make its home.

Buccinum undatum looking for a partner and mating
Egg cases of the common whelk (Buccinum undatum) Egg cases - Common Whelk - geograph.org.uk - 1779118.jpg
Egg cases of the common whelk (Buccinum undatum)
Egg cases of the knobbed whelk (Busycon carica), from Delaware Bay Whelk egg case.JPG
Egg cases of the knobbed whelk ( Busycon carica ), from Delaware Bay

Taxonomy

Three Kelletia lischkei whelks from Japan. Three Kelletia lischkei.png
Three Kelletia lischkei whelks from Japan.

According to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi (2005), the family Buccinidae consists of six subfamilies:

Subfamily Buccininae Rafinesque, 1815

Subfamily Beringiinae Golikov & Starobogatov, 1975

Subfamily Busyconinae* Wade, 1917 (1867) : presently, Busyconinae is treated as a synonym of the Busyconidae.

Subfamily Donovaniinae Casey, 1904 - synonym: Lachesinae L. Bellardi, 1877 (inv.)

Subfamily Neptuneinae W. Stimpson, 1865

Subfamily Siphonaliinae Finlay, 1928 - synonym: Austrosiphonidae Cotton & Godfrey, 1938

The subfamily Pisaniinae has been raised to the status of family Pisaniidae in 2009 by Galindo, L. A.; Puillandre, N.; Utge, J.; Lozouet, P.; Bouchet, P. [5]

Genera

Buccinum undatum on a stamp from the Faroe Islands Faroe stamp 412 common northern welk.jpg
Buccinum undatum on a stamp from the Faroe Islands

Genera within the family Buccinidae include:

subfamily Buccininae

tribe Ancistrolepidini

tribe Buccinini

tribe Buccinulini

tribe Colini

tribe Liomesini

tribe Parancistrolepidini

tribe Prosiphonini

tribe Volutopsiini

Subfamily Beringiinae

subfamily Donovaniinae

Subfamily Neptuneinae W. Stimpson, 1865

subfamily Siphonaliinae

subfamily ?

Genera brought into synonymy

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pyramidellidae</span> Family of sea snails

Pyramidellidae, common name the pyram family, or pyramid shells, is a voluminous taxonomic family of mostly small and minute ectoparasitic sea snails, marine heterobranch gastropod molluscs. The great majority of species of pyrams are micromolluscs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rapaninae</span> Subfamily of gastropods

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turbinidae</span> Family of gastropods

Turbinidae, the turban snails, are a family of small to large marine gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Trochoidea.

<i>Buccinum</i> Genus of gastropods

Buccinum is a genus of medium-sized sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Buccinidae, the true whelks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mytilidae</span> Family of bivalves

Mytilidae are a family of small to large marine and brackish-water bivalve molluscs in the order Mytilida. One of the genera, Limnoperna, even inhabits freshwater environments. Mytilidae, which contains some 52 genera, is the only extant family within the order Mytilida.

<i>Epitonium</i> Genus of gastropods

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nassariidae</span> Family of gastropods

The Nassariidae, Nassa mud snails (USA), or dog whelks (UK), are a taxonomic family of small to medium-sized sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the clade Neogastropoda.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cerithiidae</span> Family of molluscs

Cerithiidae, common name the cerithiids or ceriths, is a large family of medium-sized marine gastropods in the clade Sorbeoconcha.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Columbellidae</span> Family of gastropods

The Columbellidae, the dove snails or dove shells, are a family of minute to small sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the order Neogastropoda.

<i>Neptunea</i> Genus of gastropods

Neptunea is a genus of large sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the subfamily Neptuneinae of the family Buccinidae, the true whelks.

Mangeliidae is a monophyletic family of small to medium-sized, predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea.

<i>Oenopota</i> Genus of gastropods

Oenopota is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Mangeliidae.

<i>Mohnia</i> Genus of gastropods

Mohnia is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the subfamily Siphonaliinae of the family Buccinidae, the true whelks.

<i>Nassaria</i> Genus of gastropods

Nassaria is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the subfamily Tomliniinae of the family Nassariidae.

<i>Ovulatibuccinum</i> Genus of gastropods

Ovulatibuccinum is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the subfamily Buccininae of the family Buccinidae, the true whelks.

<i>Turricula</i> (gastropod) Genus of gastropods

Turricula is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Clavatulidae.

<i>Metula</i> (gastropod) Genus of gastropods

Metula is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Colubrariidae.

<i>Cerithiopsis</i> Genus of sea snails

Cerithiopsis is a genus of very small sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks or micromollusks in the family Cerithiopsidae.

The Neptuneinae are taxonomic subfamily of large sea snails, often known as whelks.

References

  1. 1 2 Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S. (2010). Buccinidae. In: Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S.; Rosenberg, G. (2010) World Marine Mollusca database. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=149 on 2010-12-30
  2. 1 2 3 Vaux, Felix; Hills, Simon F.K.; Marshall, Bruce A.; Trewick, Steven A.; Morgan-Richards, Mary (2017). "A phylogeny of Southern Hemisphere whelks (Gastropoda: Buccinulidae) and concordance with the fossil record". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 114 (2017): 367–381. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2017.06.018. PMID   28669812.
  3. ↑ Galindo, L. A.; Puillandre, N.; Utge, J.; Lozouet, P.; Bouchet, P. (2016). "The phylogeny and systematics of the Nassariidae revisited (Gastropoda, Buccinoidea)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . 99: 337–353. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2016.03.019.
  4. ↑ Macgillivray, William , History of the molluscous animals of Scotland, London, 1844
  5. ↑ Galindo, L. A.; Puillandre, N.; Utge, J.; Lozouet, P.; Bouchet, P. (2016). The phylogeny and systematics of the Nassariidae revisited (Gastropoda, Buccinoidea). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 99: 337-353

Further reading

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