Superfamily BALANOIDEA Leach, 1817

Balanidae Leach, 1817: 68 - Pilsbry 1916: 48 - Newman et al. 1969: 284 - Newman and Ross 1976: 38, 49 - Newman 1993: 408.

Balaninae - Darwin, 1854: 175.

Balanoidea - Newman, 1996: 502.

Diagnosis.

Shell wall composed of four or six plates (rostrum, carina and one to three pairs of laterals); parietes solid or tubiferous, when tubiferous rarely secondarily filled; radii solid or tubiferous. Basis commonly calcareous, solid or permeated by tubes, rarely membranous; when basis calcareous, internal surfaces of compartments commonly with uniform ribs; when calcareous commonly forming complex interdigitations with wall. Opercular plates occlude aperture; articulations between the pairs generally shallow or fused. Cirrus I with rami subequal or grossly unequal; cirri II and III with rami never antenniform; cirrus III resembling II more than IV; caudal appendages absent; penis with basidorsal point. Labrum thin, never bullate; crest with pronounced medial incision; mandible quadri- or quinquedentoid; second and following teeth with one or more subsidiary cusps; fifth tooth often vestigial; inferior angle commonly molariform.