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Titiscania

Titiscania is a genus of slug-like sea snails, shell-less marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Neritopsoidea.

Last revised
Jul 25, 2026
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≈ 1 min
Length
329 w
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Titiscania
Titiscania limacina
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Cycloneritida
Superfamily: Neritopsoidea
Family: Titiscaniidae
Bergh, 18901
Genus: Titiscania
Bergh, 18901
Type species
Titiscania limacina
Bergh, 1890

Titiscania is a genus of slug-like sea snails, shell-less marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Neritopsoidea.23

Titiscania is the type genus2 and also the only genus in the family Titiscaniidae.

The original vernacular spelling "Die Titiscanien" by Rudolph Bergh (1890)1 was Latinized by Johannes Thiele in 1891.2

Excepting some parasitic forms, Titiscania is the only genus of gastropod outside of the Heterobranchia to have secondarily lost its mineralized shell,4 which it sheds after its larval phase.5

When disturbed a bluish white, thread-like substance is discharged through defensive glands in the form of about 12 densely placed white papillae on both sides of the back.6

Species

Species within the genus Titiscania include:

  • Titiscania limacina Bergh, 18907
  • Titiscania shinkishihataii Taki, 19558
References

References

  1. (in German) Bergh R. (1890). "Die Titiscanien eine Families der rhipidoglossen Gasteropoden". Morphologisches Jahrbuch 16: 1-26, plates 1-3. page 1.
  2. Bouchet, Philippe; Rocroi, Jean-Pierre; Frýda, Jiri; Hausdorf, Bernard; Ponder, Winston; Valdés, Ángel & Warén, Anders (2005). "Classification and nomenclator of gastropod families". Malacologia. 47 (1–2). Hackenheim, Germany: ConchBooks: 1–397. ISBN 3-925919-72-4. ISSN 0076-2997.
  3. Bouchet, P. (2015). Titiscania. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=225430 on 2016-01-20
  4. Dayrat B. & Tillier S. (2003). "Goals and limits of phylogenetics. The euthyneuran gastropods". In Lydeard C. & Lindberg D. R. (eds.). Molecular systematics and phylogeography of mollusks. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books.
  5. Kano Y., Chiba S. & Kase T. (2002). "Major adaptive radiation in neritopsine gastropods estimated from 28S rRNA sequences and fossil records". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 269: 2457. doi:10.1098/rspb.2002.2178.
  6. First Record of Titiscania limacina Bergh, 1890 (Mollusca: Gastropoda) from India
  7. Bouchet, P. (2010). Titiscania limacina Bergh, 1890. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=532065 on 2011-03-26
  8. Bouchet, P. (2010). Titiscania shinkishihataii Taki, 1955. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=532066 on 2011-03-26