Skeneidae (Hickman, 2013)

Haszprunar, Gerhard, Kunze, Thomas, Brückner, Martin & Heß, Martin, 2016, Towards a sound definition of Skeneidae (Mollusca, Vetigastropoda): 3 D interactive anatomy of the type species, Skenea serpuloides (Montagu, 1808) and comments on related taxa, Organisms Diversity & Evolution (New York, N. Y.) 16 (3), pp. 577-595 : 590-591

Ecology of Skeneidae

Skeneid species are found in various marine habitats from intertidal gravels or shallow coastal waters down to the bathyal plane, but for many locations detailed data about the habitat or bottom structure are not available (e.g. Høisaeter 1968; Bouchet and Warén 1979). S. serpoloides is known from infra- and circalitoral amphioxus sand and maërl in depths between 15 to 145 m ( Fretter and Graham 1977; Rubio-Salazar 1991; Rubio and Rolán 2013b; herein), whereas S. profonda lives on sunken wood in deep waters beyond 2000 m. Other Skenea species live in depths between 50 and 3500 m on algae, rock, sunken wood, sand and silty bottoms ( Rubio-Salazar 1991; Warén 1991, 1993; pers. comm. C. Schander; pers. obs. TK). Dikoleps and Skeneoides species live in intertidal gravel, in shallow water from 0 to up to 160 m on different bottoms like sand, maërl and also on stones, algae and corals ( Rubio-Salazar 1991; Warén 1992). Both known species of Protolira , Protolira thorvaldssoni Warén, 1996 and Protolira valvatoides live in depths between 850 and 3700 m in hydrothermal vent habitats, among mussels in sediments and also on whale bone ( Warén and Bouchet 1993, 2001). All species of the genus Dillwynella inhabit deep-water sunken wood and algal holdfasts ( Marshall 1988; Hasegawa 1997; Kunze 2011). Thus, skeneids occur in most benthic habitats.

According to WMSDB, most Skenea , Dikoleps and Skeneoides species have been described and recorded from the European Atlantic coast, from Spain to Svalbard and around Iceland, while many Dillwynella species were exclusively found in the Pacific Ocean. However, there is little doubt that many species still remain to be discovered, rendering biogeographic data highly preliminary.