Amathinidae, is a taxonomic family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 mostly consisting of small and minute sea snail

Sea snail

Sea snail is a common name for those snails that normally live in saltwater, marine gastropod molluscs....

s, marine

Marine (ocean)

Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology...

 heterobranch

Heterobranchia

Heterobranchia, the heterobranchs or Euthyneura, is a taxonomic clade of snails and slugs, which includes species from the sea, the land and freshwater; marine, aquatic and terrestrial gastropod mollusks....

 gastropod molluscs or micromolluscs in the superfamily Pyramidelloidea

Pyramidelloidea

Pyramidelloidea is a superfamily of mostly very small sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks and micromollusks within the clade Panpulmonata.This is a voluminous taxon: above the species level close to 400 named taxa are referred to this gastropod superfamily.Pyramidelloidea has both fossil and...

.

Together with Pyramidellidae

Pyramidellidae

Pyramidellidae, common name the pyram family, or pyramid shells, is a voluminous taxonomic family of mostly small and minute ectoparasitic sea snails, marine heterobranch gastropod molluscs or micromolluscs....

, Ebalidae, Turbonillidae, Odostomidae and other genera they form the superfamily Pyramidelloidea

Pyramidelloidea

Pyramidelloidea is a superfamily of mostly very small sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks and micromollusks within the clade Panpulmonata.This is a voluminous taxon: above the species level close to 400 named taxa are referred to this gastropod superfamily.Pyramidelloidea has both fossil and...

.

Little is known on the biology of the group, but some data on the anatomy and systematic position is given by Ponder

Winston Ponder

Winston F. Ponder B.Sc, M.Sc, Ph.D, D.Sc. is a noted malacologist from New Zealand who has named and described many marine animals, especially micromolluscs. He is a graduate of the University of Auckland, New Zealand....

 (1987) and Huber (1993).

1999 taxonomy

Genera within the family Amathinidae according to the taxonomy of Schander, Van Aartsen & Corgan (1999) include:

• Genus Amathina
  Amathina
  Amathina is a genus of small sea snails, marine heterobranch gastropod molluscs or micromolluscs in the family Amathinidae.Amathina is the type genus of the family Amathinidae.- Species :Species within the genus Amathina include:...
  
  J. E. Gray, 1842
• Genus Amathinoides Sacco, 1896
• Genus Carinorbis Conrad, 1862
• Genus Cyclothyca Stearns, 1861
• Genus Faluniella Cossman, 1921
• Genus Iselica Dall
  W. H. Dall
  William Healey Dall was an American naturalist, a prominent malacologist, and one of the earliest scientific explorers of interior Alaska...
  
  , 1918
• Genus Leucotina A. Adams
  Arthur Adams (zoologist)
  Arthur Adams was an English physician and naturalist.Adams was assistant surgeon on board H.M.S. "Actaeon" in company with HMS Samarang in the British Navy during the survey of the Malay Archipelago, the Japan Sea, Korea and China,from 1843 to 1846. He edited the Zoology of the voyage of H.M.S....
  
  , 1860
• Genus Phasianema
  Phasianema
  Phasianema is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Pyramidellidae, the pyrams and their allies.-Species:Species within the genus Phasianema include:* Phasianema costatum Brocchi...
  
  Wood, 1842
• Genus Plicifer H. Adams, 1868

Genera

This family presently comprises less than 100 recent and fossil

Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

 species divided into seven genera: Amathina

Amathina

Amathina is a genus of small sea snails, marine heterobranch gastropod molluscs or micromolluscs in the family Amathinidae.Amathina is the type genus of the family Amathinidae.- Species :Species within the genus Amathina include:...

, Amathinoides, Carinorbis, Cyclothyca, Iselica, Leucotina and Phasianema

Phasianema

Phasianema is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Pyramidellidae, the pyrams and their allies.-Species:Species within the genus Phasianema include:* Phasianema costatum Brocchi...

.

Two additional genera, Faluniella and Plicifer may also be a part of Amathinidae:

• Genus Faluniella Cossmann, 1921
• Genus Plicifer H. Adams, 1868

Genera within the family Amathinidae include:

• Amathina
  Amathina
  Amathina is a genus of small sea snails, marine heterobranch gastropod molluscs or micromolluscs in the family Amathinidae.Amathina is the type genus of the family Amathinidae.- Species :Species within the genus Amathina include:...
  
  Gray, 1842
• Clathrella Recluz, 1864
• Cyclothyca Stearns, 1891
• Iselica Dall, 1918
• Leucotina A. Adams, 1860

Genera brought into synonymy:

• Adelactaeon Cossmann, 1895: synonym of Leucotina A. Adams, 1860
• Myonia A. Adams, 1860: synonym of Leucotina A. Adams, 1860

Anatomy

The shells are usually flat without coiling. They usually have strong axial ribs. Ponder

Winston Ponder

Winston F. Ponder B.Sc, M.Sc, Ph.D, D.Sc. is a noted malacologist from New Zealand who has named and described many marine animals, especially micromolluscs. He is a graduate of the University of Auckland, New Zealand....

described giant neurons in the cerebral ganglion.