This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Vermetidae is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
| Vermetidae | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
| Genera | ||||||||||||||
|
See text. |
Vermetidae, common name the worm snails or worm shells, is a taxonomic family of small to medium-sized sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the clade Littorinimorpha.
The shells of the Vermetidae are extremely irregular, and do not resemble the average snail shell, hence the common name "worm shells" or "worm snails".
They usually grow cemented onto a hard surface, or cemented together in colonies.
Contents |
Shell description
These snails do not have typical regularly-coiled gastropod shells; instead they have very irregular elongated tubular shells which are moulded to, and cemented to, a surface of attachment such as a rock or another shell and so on. In the adult the apertural part of the shell is usually free, with the opening directed upward. Some species have an operculum and some do not. Damaged sections of the shell can be sealed off by calcareous septa when necessary.
Some vermetids are solitary, whereas others live in colonies, partially cemented together. The shells of species within this family are very variable and can sometimes be extremely challenging to identify.
Comparison with annelid worm tubes
The empty calcareous tubes of certain marine annelid tube worms, for example the Serpulidae, can sometimes be casually misidentified as empty vermetid shells, and vice versa. The difference is that vermetid shells are shiny inside and have 3 shell layers, whereas the annelid worm tubes are dull inside and have only 2 shell layers.
Taxonomy
The following subfamilies have been recognized in the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi of 2005
- Dendropomatinae Bandel & Kowalke, 1997
- Vermetinae Rafinesque, 1815
Genera
Genera within the family Vermetidae include1:
- Dendropoma Mörch, 1861
- Novastoa Finlay, 1927
- Petaloconchus I. Lea, 1843
- Serpulorbis Sasso, 1827
- Spiroglyptus Daudin, 1800
- Vermetus Cuvier, 1800
References
- ^ Vermetidae (TSN 71342). Integrated Taxonomic Information System., accessed 29 November 2008.
- Powell A. W. B., New Zealand Mollusca, William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 ISBN 0-00-216906-1
- R. Tucker Abbott, 1986. Seashells of North America, St. Martin's Press, New York
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: vermetidae |
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 29 November 2008, at 21:54.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Vermetidae".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.