Nassariidae are a group of scavenging, predominantly marine, snails that are diversified on soft bottoms as well as on rocky shores, and are the subject of numerous research papers in ecology, ecotoxicology or paleontology. A weak and/or apparently continuous variation in shell characters has resulted in an intimidating taxonomy, with complex synonymy lists. Over 1320 extant nominal species have been described, of which 442 are currently regarded as valid. Above species level, the state of the art is equally hazy, with four subfamilies and twelve genera currently accepted, and many other names in the graveyard of synonymy. A molecular analysis based on three mitochondrial (COI, 16S, 12S) and two nuclear (28S, H3) markers was conducted. Our dataset includes 218 putative nassariid species, comprising 9 of the 12 valid genera, and 25 nominal genera represented by their type species. The monophyly of the Nassariidae as classically construed is not confirmed. Species of Antillophos, Engoniophos, Phos, Nassaria, Tomlinia and Anentome (formerly considered Buccinidae) are included inside the Nassariidae clade. Within the Nassariinae, the tree unexpectedly demonstrates that species from the Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific form different clades which represent several independent diversification events. Through an integrative approach, the reconstruction of ancestral states was addressed for eight characters supposedly informative for taxonomy. Using numerous fossil calibration points, Nassariidae appear to have originated 120 MYA ago in Atlantic temperate waters during the Lower Cretaceous. Our results have a profound impact on nassariid taxonomy, especially with regard to the validity of subfamily- and genus-level names. |
