The Aplustridae 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...

 of sea snail

Snail

Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...

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...

 gastropod mollusks in the informal group Lower Heterobranchia

Lower Heterobranchia

Lower Heterobranchia, also known as the Allogastropoda, is a group of rather specialized, highly-evolved sea slugs and sea snails, within the clade Heterobranchia...

.

The former name of this family, Hydatinidae (Pilsbry, 1893) has been declared invalid.

Description

The soft parts of animals in this family are brightly colored.

The oval bubble-shaped shell is thin and fragile and has a sunken spire. The shell is beige-colored with colored bands or stripes.

There is no operculum

Operculum (gastropod)

The operculum, meaning little lid, is a corneous or calcareous anatomical structure which exists in many groups of sea snails and freshwater snails, and also in a few groups of land snails...

.

Life habits

The soft parts of the animal cannot retract completely into the shell, and therefore these animals depend for their defense on swimming and camouflage. They are specialised feeders, eating cirratulinid polychaete worms.

Genera

Genera within the family Aplustridae include:

• Genus Hydatina
  Hydatina
  Hydatina is a genus of a sea snails, bubble snails, marine opisthobranch gastropod mollusks in the family Aplustridae.- Species :Species within this genus include:* Hydatina albocincta Van der Hoeven, 1839...
  
  Schumacher, 1817
• Genus Micromelo
  Micromelo
  Micromelo is a genus of sea snails, bubble snails, marine opisthobranch gastropod mollusks in the family Aplustridae.- Species :Species within the genus Micromelo include:* Micromelo guamensis* Micromelo undata...
  
  Pilsbry, 1895
• Genus Parvaplustrum Powell
  Arthur William Baden Powell
  Dr Arthur William Baden Powell CBE was a New Zealand malacologist, naturalist and palaeontologist, a major influence in the study and classification of New Zealand molluscs through much of the twentieth century. He was known to his friends and family by his third name, "Baden".Powell was born at...
  
  , 1981
  • Parvaplustrum tenerum Powell, 1951

Distribution: Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, Falkland Islands

Falkland Islands

The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about from the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago consists of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 lesser islands. The capital, Stanley, is on East Falkland...

, subantarctic

Subantarctic

The Subantarctic is a region in the southern hemisphere, located immediately north of the Antarctic region. This translates roughly to a latitude of between 46° – 60° south of the Equator. The subantarctic region includes many islands in the southern parts of the Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and...

Length: 2.8 mm