Naticidae is the only family in the superfamily Naticoidea.
It has been estimated that worldwide there are about 260–270
recentspecies of naticid snails.[1] This group is assumed to have originated in the late
Triassic or in the early
Jurassic.[1] Members of this family can be recognized by the shape of their shells, distinct appearance, or by their predatory behavior.[1]
Distribution
Naticids are widely distributed and occur worldwide and are considered to be a delicate part the web of nature amongst many others. The greatest
diversity of both species and genera is found in tropical regions. Even so, naticid snails are also plentiful in temperate,
Arctic and
Antarctic waters.[1]
Habitat
Moon snails live on sandy
substrates, at a great variety of depths depending on the species (from the
intertidal zone to thousands of meters in depth).[1] They are often seen ploughing along in the sand, searching for bivalvic and other prey, resulting in countersunk bore-holes.
Life habits
Naticids are predatory, feeding mostly on
bivalves. They will also attack almost any other shelled mollusk they encounter in the sand, such as
scaphopods and other
gastropods, including other moon snails.[1] Additionally, Conuber sordidum was shown to prey on the soldier crab Mictyris longicarpus (
Crustacea) by drilling predation.[2][3] To catch soldier crabs, C. sordidum uses the same behaviour as when hunting shelled molluscan prey.[3]
The moon snail envelops the prey and then bores a hole through the shell using its
radula and an
acid secretion. Once the shell is bored open, the
proboscis is used to consume the flesh of the prey. The hole in the shell, which has a "
countersunk" appearance with
chamfered edges, and which varies in size according to the species, is a characteristic diagnostic sign of moon snail predation.
In the breeding season, the female moon snail lays a rather stiff egg mass which includes sand and mucus. These objects wash up on sandy beaches fairly often, and are known by the
common name "
sand collars" because of their resemblance to an old-fashioned removable shirt collar or
false-collar.
^Kabat A.R. 1991. The classification of the Naticidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda): Review and analysis of the supraspecific taxa. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 152, 417-449.
^Cernohorsky W.O. 1971. The family Naticidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) in the
FijiIslands.
Auckland Inst. Mus., 8, 169-208.
^Bandel K. 1999. On the origin of the carnivorous gastropod group Naticoidea (Mollusca) in the Cretaceous with description of some convergent but unrelated groups.
Greifswalder Geowissenschaftliche Beiträge, 6, 134-175.
^Huelsken, T., Wägele, H., Peters, B., Mather, A., Hollmann, M. (2011) Molecular analysis of adults and egg masses reveals two independent lineages within the infaunal gastropod Naticarius onca (Röding, 1798) (Caenogastropoda: Naticidae). Molluscan Research, 31(3), 141-151.
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^Majima, R. 1989. Cenozoic fossil Naticidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) in Japan. Bulletins of American Paleontology, 96 (331), 1-159.
^Huelsken, T., Tapken, D., Dahlmann, T., Wägele, H., Riginos, C., Hollmann, M. (2012). Systematics and phylogenetic species delimitation within Polinices s.l. (Caenogastropoda: Naticidae) based on molecular data and shell morphology. Organisms Diversity & Evolution.
doi:10.1007/s13127-012-0111-5.
^Siemers C. T. & King N. R. (1974). "Macroinvertebrate paleoecology of a transgressive marine sandstone, Cliff House Sandstone (Upper Cretaceous), Chaco Canyon, northwestern New Mexico"
PDF.