Muricoidea

Muricoidea Temporal range: Cretaceous to Recent
Apertural view of a shell of Chicoreus palmarosae with the operculum positioned in place
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Subkingdom:	Eumetazoa
Superphylum:	Protostomia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
(unranked):	clade Caenogastropoda clade Hypsogastropoda clade Neogastropoda
Superfamily:	Muricoidea Rafinesque, 1815
Families
See text

Muricoidea is a taxonomic superfamily of predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the clade Neogastropoda.

This superfamily includes the murex snails, the chank snails, the true whelks, the dove snails, the crown conchs and busycon whelks, the spindle and tulip snails, the volutes and olives, the harp snails, the margin snails, the miters, and others.

Shell description

The shell of the snails in this superfamily vary greatly in shape and degree of ornamentation. The shells have an oval aperture, and a noticeable siphonal canal.

Families

Families within the superfamily Muricoidea are as follows:

• Babyloniidae T. Kuroda et al., 1971
• Costellariidae McDonald, 1860
• Cystiscidae Stimpson, 1865
• Harpidae Bronn, 1840
• Marginellidae Fleming, 1828
• Mitridae Swainson, 1829
• Muricidae Rafinesque, 1815
• †Pholidotomidae Cossmann, 1896
• Pleioptygmatidae Quinn, 1989
• Strepsiduridae Cossman, 1901
• Turbinellidae Swainson, 1835
• Volutidae Rafinesque, 1815
• Volutomitridae Gray, 1854

References

• Bouchet, Philippe & Jean-Pierre Rocroi 2005. Classification and Nomenclator of Gastropod Families. Malacologia 47(1-2): 1-397.
• Ponder, WF & DR Lindberg 1997. Towards a phylogeny of gastropod molluscs: an analysis using morphological characters. Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 119(2): 83-265.