Rhodopidae

Rhodopidae
Helminthope psammobionta dorsal view schematic
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Superfamily:	Murchisonelloidea
Family:	Rhodopidae Ihering, 1876
Genera
Helminthope Rhodope

Rhodopidae is a taxonomic family of sea snails, marine opisthobranch gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Murchisonelloidea.[1][2] Rhodopids are small, meiofaunal organisms with worm-like body plans that differ considerably from a typical gastropod body plan, to the point that Rhodope was at one point classified as a flatworm. They have no shell.[3]

Genera

Genera include:[1]

• Helminthope Salvini-Plawen, 1991
• Rhodope Koelliker, 1847

Genera brought into synonymy

• Sidonia Schulze, 1854: synonym of Rhodope Koelliker, 1847

Taxonomy

Molecular work has shown that this family is a basal clade of heterobranch Mollusca. Anatomically aberrant, Rhodopidae have been shown to be related to snails of the family Murchisonellidae which all have a narrow shell with many whorls.[4]

References

1. Bouchet, P. (2015). Rhodopidae Ihering, 1876. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=23111 on 2015-04-14
2. Bouchet, P. & Rocroi, J.-P. (2005). "Classification and Nomenclator of Gastropod Families". Malacologia. 47 (1–2).
3. Brenzinger, Bastian; Haszprunar, Gerhard; Schrödl, Michael (2013). "At the limits of a successful body plan - 3D microanatomy, histology and evolution of Helminthope (Mollusca: Heterobranchia: Rhodopemorpha), the most worm-like gastropod". Frontiers in Zoology. 10 (1): 37. doi:10.1186/1742-9994-10-37. ISSN 1742-9994. PMC 3704743. PMID 23809165.
4. Wilson, N. G.; Jörger, K. M.; Brenzinger, B.; Schrödl, M. (2017). Phylogenetic placement of the enigmatic worm-like Rhodopemorpha slugs as basal Heterobranchia. Journal of Molluscan Studies. 1-10.

Further reading

• Haszprunar, G. and G. Huber. (1990). On the central nervous system of Smeagolidae and Rhodopidae, two families questionably allied to the Gymnomorpha (Gastropoda, Euthyneura). Journal of Zoology 220: 185–199.