The name of this family has long been controversial, and used to be Atyidae or Atydidae. Another, but incorrect, spelling was Haminaeidae (See (ICZN) 2000. Opinion 1942).
A number of genera have been proposed for this family, but the species are hard to identify (or sometimes impossible to identify) by looking only at the external characteristics. Until the internal anatomy of 'wet' specimens has been fully described, the status of many of the genera listed here is uncertain.
Distributionedit
These bubble snails occur in all warm or temperate seas.
Habitatedit
These are sand dwellers or they live on muddy bottoms, in bays, estuaries, and close to the shore in tidepools.
Description of the live animaledit
These are colorful snails, that can partially take the color of the sea floor.
Their large cephalic shield is rounded at the front, but deeply lobed behind. The mantle protrudes behind the shell. The shell is partially or completely enfolded by lateral parapodial (=fleshy winglike outgrowths) lobes.
Shell descriptionedit
Their shell varies in size according to the species, from 3 mm to 30 mm.
The shell is ovoid, thin and translucent. It may be smooth or have spiral grooves (striae). The umbilical apex is sunken or enclosed and no longer visible. Large body whorl with fine spiral striations. Smooth columella. The thin outer lip of the aperture extends beyond the apex of the shell and is thus longer than the body whorl. The aperture narrows posteriorly and is wider anteriorly.
Ecologyedit
These snails are herbivorous. Their diet consists of various kinds of green algae. They can survive in brackish water.
They are hermaphrodites. Their eggs are deposited in round or oval jellylike strings, attached to eelgrass or sand.
Diniatys dentifer A. Adams, 1850 - Distribution: Indo-Pacific, Length : 10 mm, Description : this herbivore is found on the bluegreen algae Lyngbya majuscula, Schizothrix and Hormothamnion. There is a pointed projection on the columella. The color varies between green and various shades of brown. The two black eyes are on the back of the cephalic shield.
Haloa japonica H. A. Pilsbry, 1895 Japanese Paper-bubble
Distribution : Indo Pacific, Japan
Length : 10 mm
Description : species with beautiful colors : glassy white background with tiny white spots and dark patches with orange dots.
Haloa kawamurai T. Habe, 1950
Distribution : Indo Pacific
Haloa margaritoides T. Kuroda & T. Habe, 1971
Distribution : Japan
Length : 7 mm
Description : intertidal among seaweeds
Haloa nigripunctata W. H. Pease, 1868
Distribution : Japan
Haloa rotundata A. Adams, 1850
Distribution : Japan
Haloa vitrea (A. Adams, 1850)
Distribution : Japan
Haloa yamaguchii T. Habe, 1952
Distribution : Indo Pacific
Genus Hamineobulla Habe, 1950 (incertae sedis; may be belong to the family Bullidae)
Hamineobulla kawamurai Habe, 1950
Distribution : Okinawa
Length : 6 mm
Description : brown animal with short cephalic shield; on the shell there are a few transverse rows with brighter dots
Genus Liloa Pilsbry, 1921
Since most of these bubble snails were named on the basis of the shell alone, the occurrence of synonyms among the following species is quite possible.
Ventomnestia villica (Gould, 1859) (may be a synonym of Ventomnestia bizona)
Distribution : Guam
Length : 5.5 mm
Description : a bubble snail with a great variation in color, from white to brown, but always with a characteristic pattern; heavy shell; radula formula : 2.1.2;
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Haminoeidae.
^Pilsbry H. A. (1895). Manual of Conchology, structural and systematic, with illustrations of the species. Polyplacophora, (Chitons.) Acanthochitidae, Cryptoplacidae and appendix. Tectibranchiata. 15: page 351.
^ abMalaquias M. A. E. (2010). "Systematics, phylogeny, and natural history of Bullacta exarata (Philippi, 1849): an endemic cephalaspidean gastropod from the China Sea". Journal of Natural History44(33 & 34): 2015-2029. doi:10.1080/00222933.2010.487574.
^Malaquias M. A. E., Dodds J. M., Bouchet P. & Reid D. G. (2009). "A molecular phylogeny of the Cephalaspidea sensu lato (Gastropoda: Euthyneura): Architectibranchia redefined and Runcinacea reinstated". Zoologica Scripta38(1): 23-41. doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.2008.00354.x.
Vaught, K.C. (1989). A classification of the living Mollusca. American Malacologists: Melbourne, FL (USA). ISBN 0-915826-22-4. XII, 195 pp