Achatinellidae is a family of tropical air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Pupilloidea.

Taxonomy

It was previously the only family in the superfamily Achatinelloidea (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005). It is now classified under the superfamily Pupilloidea. The family Achatinellidae represents a diverse adaptive radiation. All species of tree-snail in Hawaii are believed to have come from a single ancestral snail. How that ancestral snail made the 3800 km trip across the ocean is unknown. A longstanding theory is that a bird carried a notably smaller ancestor across the ocean and dropped it on the islands, as bird mediated dispersal has been documented in other snail species. Alternative theories include that it floating across the ocean on a mat of debris, or that it island hopped across the Pacific in a combination of the theories. Subfamilies in the family Achatinellidae include:

Anatomy

In this family, the number of haploid chromosomes lies between 16 and 25 (according to the values in the table).

Distribution

This family of snails occurs widely in the Pacific islands. They are at their most diverse in the Hawaiian group.

Genera

Genera in the family Achatinellidae include: Achatinellinae Auriculellinae Elasmatininae Pacificellinae Tekoulininae Tornatellidinae Tornatellininae unsorted