This family is found worldwide, from the tropics to the Arctic.
Shell description
The shell of these snails has a blunt, heterostrophicprotoconch, which is often wrapped up. The texture of these shells is sculptured in various forms such as ribs and spirals. Their color is mostly white, cream or yellowish. The teleoconch is dextrally coiled, but the larval shells are sinistral. This results in a sinistrally coiled protoconch. The columella has one, spiral fold. The aperture is closed by an operculum.
Life habits
The Chrysallidinae are ectoparasites, feeding mainly on other molluscs and on annelid worms.
They do not have a radula. Instead their long proboscis is used to pierce the skin of its prey and suck up its fluids and soft tissues. The eyes on the grooved tentacles are situated toward the base of the tentacles. Between the head and the foot, a lobed process called the mentum ( = thin projection) is visible.
These molluscs are hermaphrodites, laying eggs in jelly-like masses on the shell of its host.
References
^Saurin, E. (1958). "Pyramidellidae de Pho-Hai (Sud Viet-Nam)". Annales de la Faculté des Sciences de Saigon. 35: 63–86.
^Schander, C., van Aartsen, J. J., Corgan, J. C. (1999). "Families and genera of the Pyramidelloidea (Mollusca: Gastropoda)". Bollettino Malacologico. 34 (9–12): 145–166.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
