Skip to Main Content

Naticidae

Naticidae

Overview

Naticidae Guilding, 1834

Common Name: Moon snails

Extant/Extinct

Key morphological features: The Naticidae are mostly medium sized gastropods with delicate to solid to globose shells. The shells are umbilicate (have a hole at the base of the shell whorls). The spire is low and the body whorl is large. Naticid shells have a smooth exterior, but some species have weak sculptural patterns.

        SIZE: 

Paleoecology: The Naticidae are predatory marine gastropods that prey primarily on other mollusks by enveloping the prey in their muscular foot and drilling a beveled, circular hole through the shell through which they consume the prey’s flesh. They can be found at temperate to tropical latitudes.

        MOBILITY: Mobile

        FEEDING MODE: Predator

        HABITAT: Semi-infaunal

Sources:

Davies, A.M. 1971. Tertiary Faunas Vol. 1, second edition. New York: American Elsevier Publishing Company, Inc. 571 pp.

Tunnell Jr., J.W., Andrews, J., Barrera, N.C., Moretzsohn, F. 2010. Encyclopedia of Texas Seashells. College Station: Texas A&M University Press. 512 pp.

 


Genera of Naticidae present in the Cretaceous of the Western Interior Seaway