Barleeiidae

Barleeiidae (often also spelled Barleeidae) is a family of small sea snails, micromollusks in the clade Littorinimorpha.^[1]

Barleeiidae
shell of Barleeia rubra
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Littorinimorpha
Superfamily:	Rissooidea
Family:	Barleeiidae Gray, 1857
Genera
See text
Synonyms
Ansolidae Slavoshevskaya, 1975 Barleeidae [sic] (misspelling)a

These snails are very abundant and live in sublittoral and intertidal waters on rocky substrates.

The shells are conical to high-spired. Their inner shell layer is chitinous. They are further characterized by a foot with sometimes a posterior mucous gland. Their olfactory organ, the osphradium is enlarged. In some species there are oesophageal pouches present. Their penis is sometimes provided with prostatic tissue. Their oviduct glands show a simple histology.^[2]

Few malacologists are currently working on micromollusks. Since they are so small (only a few millimeters in size), they are difficult to study and classify. Therefore, these small mollusks are less well known than the larger ones.

Genera

Genera in the family Baleeiidae include:

• Ansola Slavoschevskaya, 1975
• Barleeia Clark, 1853 - Barleysnails
• Caelatura Conrad, 1853
• Fictonoba Ponder, 1967
• Ketosia Dos Santos & Absalao, 2006^[3]
• Lirobarleeia Ponder, 1983
• Protobarleeia Ponder, 1983
• Pseudodiala Ponder, 1967
• Tropidorissoia Tomlin & Shackleford, 1915