The Melongenidae, the crown conchs and their relatives, are a taxonomic family of large to very large marine gastropods in the superfamily Buccinoidea.
Taxonomy
For a while prior to 2004, the genera Busycon and Busycotypus were placed in the Melongenidae. Then, in 2004, based on their digestive systems and on cladistic analysis by Kosyan & Kantor (2004), these two genera were moved to the family Busyconidae within the superfamily Buccinoidea.
According to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi (2005), the Melongenidae consists of two subfamilies:
- Subfamily Melongeninae Gill, 1871 (1854) - synonyms: Cassidulidae Gray, 1854 (inv.); Galeodidae Thiele, 1925 (inv.); Volemidae Winckworth, 1945; Heligmotomidae Adegoke, 1977
- Subfamily Echinofulgurinae Petuch, 1994
Genera
Genera in the family Melongenidae include:
- Brunneifusus <small>Dekkers, 2018</small>
- Hemifusus <small>Swainson, 1840</small>
- Lenifusus <small>Dekkers, 2018</small>
- Melongena <small>Schumacher, 1817</small> - crown conchs
- Pugilina <small>Schumacher, 1817</small>
- Saginafusus <small>Wenz, 1943</small>
- â Sycostoma <small>Cox, 1931</small>
- Taphon <small>H. Adams & A. Adams, 1853</small>
- Volegalea <small>Iredale, 1938</small>
- Volema <small>Röding, 1798</small>
Genera brought into synonymy:
- Cassidulus <small>Gray, 1854</small>: synonym of Pugilina <small>Schumacher, 1817</small>
- Galeodes <small>Röding, 1798</small> : synonym of Melongena <small>Schumacher, 1817</small>
- Semifusus <small>Agassiz, 1846</small> synonym of Hemifusus <small>Swainson, 1840</small>
- Thalessa <small>H. Adams & A. Adams, 1853</small>: synonym of Volema <small>Röding, 1798</small>
References