Ellobiidae
Ellobiidae, common name the hollow-shelled snails, is a family of small air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the clade Eupulmonata.[2] Ellobiidae is the only family in the superfamily Ellobioidea, according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005).[3]
In this family, the number of haploid chromosomes lies between 16 and 20 (according to the values in this table).[4]
They have a distinctive mode of locomotion arising due to a split sole. The front part of the sole adheres to the substrate and then the rear part of the sole is drawn up to the front part.[5]
Species are traditionally classified into five taxonomic groups, the Pythiidae, the Laemodontidae, the Melampodidae, the Ellobiidae and the Carychiidae.[1] These taxa have been recognized either as families within Ellobioidea or as sub-families within the family Ellobiidae.[1]
The family Ellobiidae consists of the following subfamilies (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005):[3]
The high degree of homoplasy in morphological characters and frequent low variability has led to the description of approximately 800 species names available in the literature, of which 250 are likely to be valid.[1]
