Vertiginidae, common name the whorl snails, is a family of minute, air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs or micromollusks in the superfamily Pupilloidea.[2]
Vertiginidae | |
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A live individual of Vertigo moulinsiana | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Gastropoda |
Subclass: | Heterobranchia |
Order: | Stylommatophora |
Superfamily: | Pupilloidea |
Family: | Vertiginidae Fitzinger, 1833 |
Diversity[1] | |
93–95 species |
The distribution of the Vertiginidae is in the Northern Hemisphere: North America (60 species), Eurasia (30 species), North and central Africa (3-5 species).[1] That gives a total of approximately 93-95 species.
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.[1] They feed on microflora - bacteria and fungi - growing on dead and living plants.[1]
The following three subfamilies were recognized in the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005):[2]
Genera in the family Vertiginidae include:
Tribe Vertiginini
This article incorporates public domain text from the reference.[1]