| Skeneidae | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Two views of a shell of Skenea catenoides | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Subclass: | Vetigastropoda |
| Order: | Trochida |
| Superfamily: | Trochoidea |
| Family: | Skeneidae Clark W., 1851 |
| Type genus | |
| Skenea Fleming, 1824< | |
| Genera and species | |
See text | |
| Synonyms [1] | |
Skeneinae Clark W., 1851 | |
The Skeneidae are a speciose family of minute to small marine gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Trochoidea. [1]
Contents
The former subfamily Skeneinae (in the family Turbinidae) was loosely defined. Information on the specific characters of this family are incompletely described. Recent molecular evidence suggests that a number of these genera in Skeneinae probably belong to other families altogether, so many of these assignments must be regarded as provisional. Williams noted in 2012 that "this group is in a desperate need of revision". [2] [3] [4] The subfamily Skeneidae has been upgraded to the status of family Skeneidae, comprising most genera formerly in the subfamily Skeneinae. But even then, the family Skeneidae represents a polyphyletic, “skeneimorph” assemblage. [5] It should be pruned of many genera which would go to the superfamily Seguenzioidea according to Kano (2008) [6] Until a researcher formally assigns them to a seguenzioid family in the literature, the database WoRMS prefers to keep them unchanged.
This family is assemblage of small to very small shells that lack a nacreous structure. The shells are white and show no color patterns.
