Familia Cymbuliidae

Family Cymbuliidae Cantraine, 1841

Cymbuliidae and Desmopteridae have completely lost their shell. In Cymbuliidae the visceral mass is surrounded by a secondary cartilaginous-like slipper beset with spines or tubercles. This slipper is connected to the soft parts by a epidermal envelope and muscles from the wings (Pafort-van Iersel and Spoel,1979). The slipper is completely transparent and invisible when the animal is in situ. The wings, derived from the foot, form one continuous disc in which the posterior footlobe is also incorporated. The proboscis protrudes over this wing-disc. The visceral mass with mantle is found underneath this wing-plate. A large mantle gland is present. The tentacles are found at the base of the proboscis.
Cymbuliidae is composed of two subfamilies: Cymbuliinae with one genus, and Glebinae, with two genera.
Dubious species in the family are:
Tiedemannia charybdis Troschel, 1854: 220
Tiedemannia scylla Troschel, 1854: 219
Cymbulia radiata Quoy and Gaimard, 1832: 375
Argivora parva Lesueur, 1827: 655
Cymodocea diaphana d'Orbigny, 1840: 133

[2 subfamilies]

%LABEL% (%SOURCE%)