Vertiginidae, common name the whorl snails, is a family of small, air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs or micromollusks in the superfamily Pupilloidea.
Distribution The distribution of the Vertiginidae is in the Northern Hemisphere: North America (60 species), Eurasia (30 species), North and central Africa (3-5 species). That gives a total of approximately 93-95 species.
Ecology Snails in this family inhabit habitats ranging from forests to semi-open and open habitats with various different kinds of substrate cover, vegetation and humidity. They feed on microflora - bacteria and fungi - growing on dead and living plants.
Taxonomy The following three subfamilies were recognized in the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005): Subfamily Vertigininae Fitzinger, 1833 Tribe Vertiginini Fitzinger, 1833 Tribe Truncatellinini Steenberg, 1925 - synonyms: Truncatellininae; Columellinae Schileyko, 1998 - raised in 2016 to family level Truncatellinidae Subfamily Gastrocoptinae Pilsbry, 1918 - synonyms: Hypselostomatinae Zilch, 1959; Aulacospirinae Zilch, 1959 Subfamily Nesopupinae Steenberg, 1925 - synonym: Cylindrovertillidae Iredale, 1940
Genera Genera in the family Vertiginidae include:
Subfamily Vertigininae
Tribe Vertiginini Vertigo O. F. Müller, 1773 - the type genus of the family Vertiginidae
Subfamily Nesopupinae Bothriopupa Pilsbry, 1898"Mollusca" . Diversidad Biológica Cubana, accessed 23 March 2011. Bothriopupa tenuidens (C. B. Adams, 1845) Costigo O. Boettger, 1891 Cylindrovertilla O. Boettger, 1881 Glandicula F. Sandberger, 1875 † Helenopupa Pilsbry & C. M. Cooke, 1920 Indopupa Pilsbry & C. M. Cooke, 1920 Insulipupa Pilsbry & C. M. Cooke, 1920 Lyropupa Pilsbry, 1900 Minacilla H. Nordsieck, 2014 † Negulopsis H. Nordsieck, 2014 † Nesopupa Pilsbry, 1900 - the type genus of the subfamily Nesopupinae Nesopuparia Pilsbry, 1926 Nesopupilla Pilsbry & C. M. Cooke, 1920 Nesoropupa Gargominy, 2008 Paracraticula Oppenheim, 1890 † Pronesopupa Iredale, 1913 Trigonopupa H. Nordsieck, 2014 † Staurodon Lowe, 1852: synonym of Vertigo O. F. Müller, 1773 Subfamily ? Acmopupa O. Boettger, 1889 † Propupa Stworzewicz & Pokryszko, 2006 † Pseudelix O. Boettger, 1889 † Tetoripupa Isaji, 2010 † Sterkia Pilsbry, 1898: synonym of Vertigo O. F. Müller, 1773
References This article incorporates public domain text from the reference.Family summary for Vertiginidae. AnimalBase, last modified 03-09-2006, accessed 23 June 2009.
Schileyko, A. A. (1998). Treatise on Recent terrestrial pulmonate molluscs. Part 2. Gastrocoptidae, Hypselostomatidae, Vertiginidae, Truncatellinidae, Pachnodidae, Enidae, Sagdidae. Ruthenica. Supplement 2: 129–261. Moskva
External links
The Vertiginidae of Poland Fitzinger, L.J. (1833). Systematisches Verzeichniß der im Erzherzogthume Oesterreich vorkommenden Weichthiere, als Prodrom einer Fauna derselben. Beiträge zur Landeskunde Oesterreichs's unter der Enns, 3: 88-122. Wien