Stenothyridae is a family of small freshwater snails, snails with gills and an operculum, aquatic gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Truncatelloidea.

This family has no subfamilies.

Distribution

There are known about 60 freshwater species of Stenothyridae in the Palearctic (6 species), Oriental (about 60 species) and Australasian region (about 5 species) and some marine. There are 19 endemic species of Stenothyridae in the Lower Mekong River flowing through Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.

Description

American malacologist George Washington Tryon firstly defined this taxon as Stenothyrinæ in 1866. Tryon's diagnosis reads as follows:

Stenothyrinæ. Shell turbinate. Operculum subspiral, calcareous. Distribution Indian. Stenothyra, Gabbia.

Currently the genus Gabbia is classified within the family Bithyniidae.

Genera

Genera within the family Stenothyridae include:

  • Farsithyra Glöer & Pešić, 2009
  • Gangetia Ancey, 1890
  • Stenothyra Benson, 1856 - type genus of the family Stenothyridae

Ecology

The habitat of Stenothyridae include rivers, streams and estuaries. Stenothyridae invaded freshwater habitats from marine ones in at least one independent lineage. Some species of Stenothyridae are euryhaline and/or marine. Probably there are some amphidromous (migrate from freshwater to the sea) species of Stenothyridae.

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External links

  • Media related to Stenothyridae at Wikimedia Commons