Zonitidae, common name the true glass snails, are a family of mostly rather small, air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Zonitoidea.
Zonitidae is the only family in the superfamily Zonitoidea. The family's type genus is Zonites, established by Pierre Denys de Montfort in 1810. This family has no subfamilies (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005).
Distribution The distribution of the Zonitidae encompasses the western Palearctic.
Shell description The spiral, heliciform shells of these snails are flattened in shape with a very low spire. The shell is perforate or umbilicate. The lip of the aperture is simple, lacking thickened margin. These shells are more or less transparent as if made of glass, hence the popular name "glass snails". The shells are colorless or of an amber to brownish color.George Washington Tryon 1886. Manual of Conchology, volume 2, Zonitidae.
Biology Some snails in genera within this family create and use love darts as part of their mating behavior.
In this family, the number of haploid chromosomes lies between 21 and 25 and also lies between 31 and 35, but other values are also possible (according to the values in this table).Barker G. M.: Gastropods on Land: Phylogeny, Diversity and Adaptive Morphology. in Barker G. M. (ed.): The biology of terrestrial molluscs. CABI Publishing, Oxon, UK, 2001, . 1–146, cited pages: 139 and 142.
Ecology These snails live in damp places under stones and similar objects. The true glass snails are usually nocturnal.
Genera Genera within the family Zonitidae include: Aegopis Fitzinger, 1833 Aegopinella Lindholm, 1927 Allaegopis Riedel, 1979 Balcanodiscus Riedel & Urbanski, 1964 Brazieria Ancey, 1887 Doraegopis Riedel, 1982 Eopolita Pollonera, 1916 Glyphyalinia Martens, 1892 Gollumia Riedel, 1988 † Macrozonites Wenz, 1919 Meledella Sturany, 1908 Mesomphix Rafinesque, 1819 Ogaridiscus Dall, 1877Turgeon, D.D., J.F. Quinn, Jr., A.E. Bogan, E.V. Coan, F.G. Hochberg, W.G. Lyons, P.M. Mikkelsen, R.J. Neves, C.F.E. Roper, G. Rosenberg, B. Roth, A. Scheltema, F.G. Thompson, M. Vecchione, and J.D. Williams. 1998. Common and scientific names of aquatic invertebrates from the United States and Canada: Mollusks. 2nd Edition. American Fisheries Society Special Publication 26, Bethesda, Maryland: 526 pp. Paraegopis Hesse, 1910 Paravitrea Pilsbry, 1898 Retinella Fischer, 1877 Thasiogenes Riedel, 1998 Troglaegopis Riedel & Radja, 1983 Turcozonites Riedel, 1987 Ventridens Binney & Bland, 1869 Zonites Montfort, 1810 – type genus
Cladogram The following cladogram shows the phylogenic relationships of this family to other families in the limacoid clade:Hausdorf B. (2000). "Biogeography of the Limacoidea sensu lato (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora): Vicariance Events and Long-Distance Dispersal". Journal of Biogeography 27(2): 379–390. , JSTOR.
References
Further reading
Riedel A. The Zonitidae of Greece. Fauna Graeciae V. 194 pp. Schileyko A. A. (2003). "Treatise on recent terrestrial pulmonate mollusks. 10. Ariophantidae, Ostracolethaidae, Ryssotidae, Milacidae, Dyakiidae, Staffordiidae, Gastrodontidae, Zonitidae, Daudebardiidae, Parmacellidae". Ruthenica, Supplement 2. 1309–1466.