Taxon classification Animalia Stylommatophora Camaenidae

Family CAMAENIDAE Pilsbry

Short description.

Snails. Shell often colourful, medium-sized to very large, dextral, sinistral or chirally dimorphic, (narrowly-)conical, ellipsoid, ovoid, lenticular discoidal or globose. Sculpture absent, or inconspicuous; often with minute, geometrically arranged scars, each with a periostracal hair on top. Aperture usually without teeth or lamellae, peristome usually thickened and/or reflected. Umbilicus closed or open, narrow (Family description adapted from Abbott 1989; Solem 1992).

Habitat and distribution.

Tree and rock dwellers. Widespread and species-rich throughout Southeast Asia, Australia, and Oceania.

Remarks.

Although the family is well-studied, and some groups have been confidently excluded because of polyphyly, such as the American taxa (Scott 1996; Wade et al. 2007), Solem (1992) refrains from a family diagnosis, as its relation with Bradybaenidae and other members of the helicoid clade remains unclear.