Janthinidae, common name

Common name

A common name of a taxon or organism is a name in general use within a community; it is often contrasted with the scientific name for the same organism...

 the purple snails or violet snails, are a 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 pelagic 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 Ptenoglossa of the clade

Clade

A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...

  Hypsogastropoda

Hypsogastropoda

According to the Taxonomy of the Gastropoda Hypsogastropoda is a clade of parasitic marine gastropods within the clade Caenogastropoda....

.

This planktonic group has modified its foot to produce "rafts" of mucus bubbles used in flotation.

Genera

Genera in the family Janthinidae include:

• Janthina
  Janthina
  Janthina is a genus of small to medium-sized pelagic or planktonic sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Janthinidae, commonly known as the "purple snails" or the "violet shells". -Description:...
  
  Röding, 1798
• Recluzia
  Recluzia
  Recluzia is a genus of small to medium-sized pelagic or planktonic sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Janthinidae.-Species:* Recluzia annamitica Wattebled, 1886* Recluzia jehennei Petit, 1853...
  
  Petit de la Saussaye, 1853

The following genera have been brought into synonymy :

• Iodes Mörch, 1860: synonym of Janthina Röding, 1798
• Iodina Mörch, 1860 : synonym of Janthina Röding, 1798

External links

• 1887. Manual of Conchology volume 9, plate 9-10.