The family

Taxonomic rank

In biological classification, rank is the level in a taxonomic hierarchy. Examples of taxonomic ranks are species, genus, family, and class. Each rank subsumes under it a number of less general categories...

 Cavoliniidae is a taxonomic group of small floating sea snail

Sea snail

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

s, pelagic 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...

 opisthobranch gastropod mollusks.

This family is part of a larger group which is commonly known as the sea butterflies

Sea butterfly

Sea butterflies, also known as Thecosomata or flapping snails, are a taxonomic suborder of small pelagic swimming sea snails. These are holoplanktonic opisthobranch gastropod mollusks in the informal group Opisthobranchia. They include some of the world's most abundant gastropod species.This group...

 because they swim by flapping what appear to be small "wings".

Distribution

This family of sea butterflies are circumglobal, carried by the sea currents to all the seas of the world.

Habitat

Cavoliniids prefer deep waters, from 100 m up to 2,000 m. They do best in warm oceanic water.

Life habits

Towards the anterior end of the animal, two parapodia (winglike flat lobules) protrude between each half of the shell. The parapodia enable these sea butterflies to float along in the water currents, using slow flapping movements. The parapodia are also covered with cilia

Cilium

A cilium is an organelle found in eukaryotic cells. Cilia are slender protuberances that project from the much larger cell body....

, which produce a minute water current that pushes the plankton

Plankton

Plankton are any drifting organisms that inhabit the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water. That is, plankton are defined by their ecological niche rather than phylogenetic or taxonomic classification...

ic food to the mouth of the animal.

Taxonomy

In 2003, the family Cavoliniidae was raised to the rank of superfamily Cavolinioidea. At the same time, the subfamilies were given the new status of families: Cavoliniidae, Cliidae, Creseidae and Cuvierinidae.

2005 taxonomy

In the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi

Taxonomy of the Gastropoda (Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005)

The taxonomy of the Gastropoda as it was revised by Philippe Bouchet and Jean-Pierre Rocroi is currently the most up-to-date overall system for classifying gastropod mollusks...

 (2005) several families have been categorized as subfamilies of the family Cavoliniidae:

• Subfamily Cavoliinae Gray, 1850 (1815) - formerly Hyalaeidae Rafinesque, 1815
• Subfamily Clioinae Jeffreys, 1869 - formerly Cleodoridae Gray, 1840 - nomen oblitum
• Subfamily Cuvierininae van der Spoel, 1967 - formerly: Cuvieriidae Gray, 1840 (nom. inv.); Tripteridae Gray, 1850
• Subfamily Creseinae Curry, 1982

Genera

Genera in the family Cavoliniidae include"

Genus Cavolinia Abildgaard, 1791 - A very distinctive shape of shell with a marked bulge on the ventral plate. The species are protandric hermaphrodites.

• Cavolinia angulosa
• Cavolinia couthouyi Dall, 1908
• Cavolinia gibbosa (d'Orbigny
  Alcide d'Orbigny
  Alcide Charles Victor Marie Dessalines d'Orbigny was a French naturalist who made major contributions in many areas, including zoology , palaeontology, geology, archaeology and anthropology....
  
  , 1836) - Gibbose Cavoline. Distribution: circumglobal, US Atlantic Coast, Bermuda, Cuba, Atlantic. Length: 10 mm.
• Cavolinia globulosa J.E.Gray
  John Edward Gray
  John Edward Gray, FRS was a British zoologist. He was the elder brother of George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray ....
  
  , 1850 - Distribution: tropical Atlantic, Madagascar. Length: 8 mm long and 4.5 mm wide. Description: The globose, transparent shell with a brownish colour. The anterior section of the shell is rounded. The anterior section of the ventral side has strong transverse ribs.
• Cavolinia inflata
• Cavolinia inflexa (Lesueur
  Charles Alexandre Lesueur
  Charles Alexandre Lesueur was a French naturalist, artist and explorer.Pictured here is the oil portrait by Charles Willson Peale of Charles-Alexandre Lesueur...
  
  , 1813) - Inflexed Cavoline. Distribution: circumglobal, Red Sea, Bermuda, Cuba, Brazil. Length: 7 mm.
  • Cavolinia inflexa labiata d’Orbigny
    Alcide d'Orbigny
    Alcide Charles Victor Marie Dessalines d'Orbigny was a French naturalist who made major contributions in many areas, including zoology , palaeontology, geology, archaeology and anthropology....
    
    , 1836
• Cavolinia longirostratus (de Blainville
  Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville
  Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville was a French zoologist and anatomist.Blainville was born at Arques, near Dieppe. In about 1796 he went to Paris to study painting, but he ultimately devoted himself to natural history, and attracted the attention of Georges Cuvier, for whom he occasionally...
  
  , 1821)
• Cavolinia occidentalis
• Cavolinia quadridentata
• Cavolinia telemus Linnaeus
  Carolus Linnaeus
  Carl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...
  
  , 1767
• Cavolinia tridentata
  Cavolinia tridentata
  Cavolinia tridentata is a species of sea butterfly, a floating and swimming sea snail or sea slug, a pelagic marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cavoliniidae....
  
  (Niebuhr
  Carsten Niebuhr
  Carsten Niebuhr or Karsten Niebuhr , a German mathematician, cartographer, and explorer in the service of Denmark, is renowned for his travels on the Arabian peninsula.-Biography:...
  
  , 1775) - Three-tooth Cavoline, Distribution: circumglobal, Gulf of Mexico, Mascarene Islands, Western Atlantic, South Africa, Red Sea. Length: 20 mm. Description: globose transparent shell, with pointed proto-conch and three distinctive posterior projections; two lateral mantle appendages; brownish color.
• Cavolinia trispinosa
• Cavolinia uncinata (Rang, 1829) - Uncinate Cavoline. Distribution: circumglobal, Red Sea, Gulf of Mexico.
  • Cavolinia uncinata uncinata Rang, 1829
  • Cavolinia uncinata pulsatapusilla Van der Spoel, 1993

Genus Diacavolinia van der Spoel, 1987

Twenty two species of Diacavolinia. Diacavolinia species are characterised by the absence of a caudal spine

• Diacavolina angulosa J.E. Gray
  John Edward Gray
  John Edward Gray, FRS was a British zoologist. He was the elder brother of George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray ....
  
  , 1850 - Distribution: Indo-Pacific, Atlantic. Length: 4 mm.
• Diacavolinia bicornis van der Spoel, Bleeker and Kobayashi, 1993 - Distribution: Indo-Pacific, Atlantic Ocean. Length: 8 mm
• Diacavolina constricta van der Spoel, Bleeker and Kobayashi, 1993 - Distribution: Bermuda, Venezuela.
• Diacavolinia deblainvillei van der Spoel, Bleeker and Kobayashi, 1993 - Distribution: Caribbean, Western Atlantic. Length: 7 mm.
• Diacavolinia deshayesi van der Spoel, Bleeker and Kobayashi, 1993 - Distribution: Bermuda, Panama, French Guyana. Length : 8 mm.
• Diacavolinia elegans van der Spoel, Bleeker and Kobayashi, 1993 - Distribution: New Yersey. Length: 6 mm.
• Diacavolinia flexipes van der Spoel, Bleeker and Kobayashi, 1993 - Distribution: SE Asia. Length: 5 mm.
• Diacavolinia limbata van der Spoel, Bleeker and Kobayashi, 1993 - Distribution: Brazil, southern Indo-Pacific. Length: 13 mm.
• Diacavolinia longirostris (de Blainville, 1821) - Long-snout Cavoline, Distribution: circumglobal, Red Sea, Madagascar, West Pacific, Australian; Gulf of Mexico. Length: 7 mm; width: 4.9 to 6.8 mm. Description: globulous brownish shell with two distinct lateral spines and a long rostrum on the dorsal rim. Dorsal side of the shell is relatively flat whereas the ventral side is deeply rounded.
  • Diacavolinia longurostris angulata Souleyet
    Louis François Auguste Souleyet
    Louis François Auguste Souleyet was a French zoologist, malacologist and naval surgeon.Souleyet was naturalist-surgeon on the voyage of La Bonite, which circumnavigated the globe between February 1836 and November 1837 under Auguste Nicolas Vaillant . In the Pacific he studied marine molluscs...
    
    , 1852
• Diacavolinia mcgowani van der Spoel, Bleeker and Kobayashi, 1993
• Diacavolinia ovalis van der Spoel, Bleeker and Kobayashi, 1993 - Distribution: Caribbean, West Atlantic. Length: 6 mm.
• Diacavolinia robusta van der Spoel, Bleeker and Kobayashi, 1993 - Distribution: Caribbean, West Atlantic. Length: 5.4 mm.
• Diacavolinia strangulata (G. P. Deshayes, 1823) - Distribution: Panama, Brazil, Cuba. Length: 4 mm.

Genus Diacria J. E. Gray

John Edward Gray

John Edward Gray, FRS was a British zoologist. He was the elder brother of George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray ....

, 1847

The genus comprises two species groups and a total of ten species. The species may be globular, with both dorsal and ventral sides rounded, or bilaterally symmetrical with a long caudal spine. The species are protandric hermaphrodites. They are the largest of the Cavoliniids.

• Diacria atlantica L. Dupont, 1979 - Distribution: Massachusetts. Length: 9 mm.
• Diacria costata G. Pfeffer, 1879 - Distribution: Indo-Pacific
• Diacria danae van Leyen and van der Spoel, 1982 - Distribution: circumglobal in warm seas. Length: 9 mm.
• Diacria maculata Bleeker and van der Spoel, 1988
• Diacria major (Boas, 1886) - Distribution: Florida, Bermuda, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean. Length: 13 mm
• Diacria quadridentata (de Blainville, 1821) - Four-tooth Cavoline. Distribution: circumglobal, Red Sea, Madagascar, Gulf of Mexico, Japan. Length: 3 mm; width : 1.8 to 2.5 mm. Description: a small, globular shell, with curved spinal and ventral sides. There are no caudal or lateral spines. The dorsal side extends further than the ventral side.
  • Diacria quadridentata costata Pfeiffer, 1879 - from Japan
• Diacria rampali Dupont, 1979 - Distribution: Florida, Brazil. Length: 10 mm
• Diacria rubecula Bontes & van der Spoel, 1998 - Distribution: warmer regions of North Atlantic. Length: 11 mm
• Diacria schmidti Leyen & van der Spoel, 1982 - Distribution: Pacific
• Diacria trispinosa (de Blainville, 1821) - Three-spine Cavoline. Distribution: circumglobal, Gulf of Mexico, Madagascar. Length: 13 mm; width: 10 mm. Description: The slightly transparent, brownish shell is bilaterally symmetrical and is darker on the ribbed sections. Very long caudal spine and strong lateral spines. There are five ribs on the dorsal side and three ribs on the ventral side.

Clioinae

Clioinae Jeffreys, 1869 = Family Cliidae Jeffreys, 1869

This family name has for a long time been Clioidae with the type genus Clio. Unfortunately this is often confused with another molluscan family Clionidae, which has the type genus Clione. The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature

International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature

The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature is an organization dedicated to "achieving stability and sense in the scientific naming of animals". Founded in 1895, it currently comprises 28 members from 20 countries, mainly practicing zoological taxonomists...

 (ICZN) has therefore changed the name back to its original spelling Cliidae Jeffreys, 1869, type genus Clio Linnaeus, 1767

Genus Clio

Clio

thumb|Clio—detail from [[The Art of Painting|The Allegory of Painting]] by [[Johannes Vermeer]]In Greek mythology, Clio or Kleio, is the muse of history. Like all the muses, she is a daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne...

Linnaeus

Carolus Linnaeus

Carl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...

, 1767

All species in this genus are characterised by a bilaterally symmetric, straight or adapically dorso-ventrally slightly curved shell, with an elliptical to triangular transverse section; protoconch clearly separated, globular or elliptical, frequently with a spine at the tip.
Subgenera are used for some species (e.g. Clio s.str., Balantium Bellardi, 1872, Bellardiclio Janssen, 2004), but most species cannot yet be assigned to one of these.
Numerous fossil species have been described.

Recognised extant species are:

• Clio andreae (Boas, 1886)
  • Distribution : north Atlantic, bathypelagic species.

• Clio antarctica Dall, 1908

• Clio australis

• Clio bartletti van der Spoel, 1978
  • Distribution: central Atlantic (Pleistocene fossil).

• Clio campylura (Tesch, 1948)

• Clio chaptalii J. E. Gray
  John Edward Gray
  John Edward Gray, FRS was a British zoologist. He was the elder brother of George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray ....
  
  , 1850
  • Distribution : tropical, circumglobal.

• Clio convexa convexa Boas, 1886
  • Distribution: tropical, Indo-Pacific

• Clio convexa cyphosa Rampal, 2002
  • Distribution: Red Sea and Gulf of Aden).

• Clio cuspidata (Bosc
  Louis Augustin Guillaume Bosc
  Louis Augustin Guillaume Bosc was a French botanist, invertebrate zoologist, and entomologist.-Biography:...
  
  , 1802)
  • Distribution : tropical/subtropical, circumglobal.

• Clio orthotheca (Tesch, 1904)

• Clio piatkowskii van der Spoel, Schalk & Bleeker, 1992
  • Distribution: Antarctic.

• Clio pyramidata
  Clio pyramidata
  Clio pyramidata is a species of sea butterfly, a floating and swimming sea snail, a pelagic marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cavoliniidae.- External links :* at Marine Species Identification Portal...
  
  Linnaeus
  Carolus Linnaeus
  Carl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...
  
  , 1767
  • Distribution : north Atlantic
  • Height : to over 20 mm.

Formae:

• • • forma excisa van der Spoel, 1963
    • forma lanceolata Lesueur
      Charles Alexandre Lesueur
      Charles Alexandre Lesueur was a French naturalist, artist and explorer.Pictured here is the oil portrait by Charles Willson Peale of Charles-Alexandre Lesueur...
      
      , 1813 (tropical/subtropical, circumglobal)
    • forma martensi (Pfeiffer, 1880) ??
    • forma sulcata (Pfeffer, 1879)

The true status of these formae has to be evaluated, they might be real formae, subspecies, or even species.

• Clio recurva (Children, 1823)
  • Distribution : tropical-subtropical, circumglobal (bathypelagic species)**
    • Height: to over 30 mm

• Clio sulcata (Pfeffer, 1879)

Cuvierininae

Extinct genera:

• Spoelia Janssen, 1990
  • Spoelia torquayensis Janssen, 1990 -- (Late Oligocene
    Oligocene
    The Oligocene is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 34 million to 23 million years before the present . As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the period are slightly...
    
    , Early Miocene
    Miocene
    The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...
    
    )
• Johnjagtia Janssen, 2005 -- (Early Miocene)
  • Johnjagtia moulinsi (Benoist, 1873) -- (Early Miocene)
• Ireneia Janssen, 1995
  • Ireneia tenuistriata (Semper, 1861) -- (Late Oligocene)
  • Ireneia nieulandei Janssen, 1995 -- (Early Miocene)
  • Ireneia calandrellii (Michelotti, 1847) -- (Early Miocene)
  • Ireneia testudinaria (Michelotti, 1847) -- (Early-Middle Miocene)
  • Ireneia gracilis Janssen, 2005 -- (Middle Miocene)
  • Ireneia marqueti Janssen, 1995 -- (Late Miocene)

Extant genera:

• Genus Cuvierina Boas, 1886 sensu lato

The genus Cuvierina developed from the Ireneia lineage during the Early Miocene and is split in two subgenera:

• • Subgenus Cuvierina sensu stricto

Extant species:

• • • Cuvierina (Cuvierina) columnella (Rang, 1827) -- (Indo-Pacific)
    • Cuvierina (Cuvierina) atlantica Bé, MacClintock & Currie, 1972 -- (Atlantic)
    • Cuvierina (Cuvierina) pacifica Janssen, 2005 -- (Pacific)

Extinct species:

• • • Cuvierina (Cuvierina) torpedo (Marshall, 1918) -- (Early Miocene)
    • Cuvierina (Cuvierina) paronai Checchia-Rispoli, 1921 -- (Middle - Late Miocene)
    • Cuvierina (Cuvierina) grandis d'Alessandro & Robba, 1980 -- (Late Miocene)
    • Cuvierina (Cuvierina) jagti Janssen, 1995 -- (Late Miocene)
    • Cuvierina (Cuvierina) ludbrooki (Caprotti, 1962) -- (Pliocene
      Pliocene
      The Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...
      
      )
    • Cuvierina (Cuvierina) miyazakiensis Ujihara, 1996 -- (Pliocene)
    • Cuvierina (Cuvierina) astesana (Rang, 1829) -- (Pliocene)

• • Subgenus Urceolarica Janssen, 2006

Extant species:

• • • Cuvierina (Urceolarica) urceolaris Mörch
      Otto Andreas Lowson Mörch
      Otto Andreas Lowson Mörch was a biologist, specifically a malacologist. He lived in Sweden, in Denmark, and in France.- Taxa described :Bibliography and taxa described by Otto Andreas Lowson Mörch include:...
      
      , 1850 -- (Indo-Pacific)
    • Cuvierina (Urceolarica) cancapae Janssen, 2005 -- (Atlantic)

Extinct species:

• • • Cuvierina (Urceolarica) intermedia (Bellardi, 1873) (Middle Miocene - Pliocene)
    • Cuvierina (Urceolarica) curryi Janssen, 2005 (Middle Miocene)
    • Cuvierina (Urceolarica) inflata (Bellardi, 1873) (Late Miocene - Pliocene)

Creseinae

Creseinae Curry, 1982
Genus Creseis Rang, 1828

The shells of the species in this genus have the form of a more or less narrow, conically widening tube.

• Creseis chierchiae Boas, 1886
  • Distribution : tropical-subtropical, circumglobal.
  • Length: shell up to 9 mm high.
  • Description: shell straight or slightly curved, initially slowly, later hardly increasing in diameter, with clear annulations, protoconch
    Protoconch
    A protoconch is an embryonic or larval shell of some classes of molluscs, e.g., the initial chamber of an ammonite or the larval shell of a gastropod...
    
     with rounded tip, followed by a distinct swelling. A form with lacking annulations, also known as a Pliocene fossil, is described as C. chierchiae forma constricta Chen & Bé, 1964.

• Creseis clava (Rang, 1828) (synonym: Creseis acicula (Rang, 1828)
  • Distribution : tropical-subtropical, circumglobal.
  • Length: shell is up to 35 mm high.
  • Description : shell, long and straight or slightly irregular, with small apical angle, circular in cross section; smooth shell surface; protoconch without swelling; there is a characteristic tentacular lobe on the

• Creseis conica Eschscholtz, 1829
  • Distribution : tropical-subtropical, circumglobal.
  • Length: shell height up to 20 mm.
  • Description : shell straight or slightly curved, with a wider apical angle than C. clava, transverse section circular, protoconch slightly swollen.

• Creseis virgula (Rang, 1828)
  • Distribution : tropical-subtropical, circumglobal.
  • Length: shell height up to 12 mm
  • Description : shell with circular transverse section, curved in its basal part.

Genus Hyalocylis Fol, 1875

• Hyalocylis striata (Rang, 1828)
  • Distribution : tropical-suntropical, circumglobal.
  • Length : 10 mm
  • Description : shell slightly curved dorsally, with distinct annulations, transverse section initially circular, later slightly dorso-ventrally compressed. The animal is often easily recognised by the very large fins.

Genus Styliola Gray, 1850

• Styliola subula (Quoy & Gaimard, 1827)
  • Distribution : tropical-suntropical, circumglobal, absent in the Red Sea.
  • Length : 13 mm
  • Description : needle-like shell, transparent and round in cross-section. A prominent oblique dorsal furrow runs from a short distance above the protoconch to the aperture, building a toothlike process. There is no tentacular lobe on the anterior margin of the fins.

Further reading

• Rampal J. (2002). "Biodiversité et biogéographie chez les Cavoliniidae (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Opisthobranchia, Euthecosomata). Régions faunistiques marines" Zoosystema, 24(2): 209-258.
• Janssen A. W. (2005). "Development of Cuvierinidae (Mollusca, Euthecosomata, Cavolinioidea) during the Cainozoic: a non-cladistic approach with a re-interpretation of Recent taxa". Basteria 69(1-3): 25-72. abstract
• Janssen A. W., (2006). "Notes on the systematics, morphology and biostratigraphy of fossil holoplanktonic Mollusca, 16. Some additional notes and amendments on Cuvierinidae and on classification of Thecosomata (Mollusca, Euthecosomata)". Basteria 70(1-3): 67-70.