Assimineidae
family of molluscs
Assimineidae is a family of small snails, also known as palmleaf snails, with an operculum, gastropod mollusks or micromollusks in the superfamily Truncatelloidea. Many of these very small snails live in intermediate habitats, being amphibious between saltwater and land; others live in freshwater.
Distribution
The distribution of the Assimineidae is worldwide. The oldest fossils are known from the Cenomanian aged Burmese amber.
Ecology
Various species in this family occur in estuarine habitats, in salt marshes and in freshwater. Some are terrestrial or amphibious.
Description
The shell is small to medium large, more or less egg-conelike shaped. The apertural margin is simple. The operculum is in most cases horny.
Species in this family are characterized by rudimentary cephalic tentacles, a trunklike snout, a foot with a groove and rudimentary to absent ctenidium (a comb-like respiratory apparatus).
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This entry incorporates text from “Assimineidae” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.