Batillariidae
Introduction '''Batillariidae''', common name '''batillariids''' or '''mudcreepers''', are a family of marine, cerithioidean gastropod molluscs in thesuperfamily Cerithioidea.They consist of 14 living species, classified in six to eight genera.According to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi (2005) the family Batillariidae has no subfamilies. However, a recent molecular study has found that the Batillariidae as traditionally conceived are not monophyletic. The Neotropical genera ''Lampanella'' and ''Rhinocoryne'' are sister to the Planaxidae. The monophyletic Batillariidae sensu stricto are restricted to the northwestern Pacific and Australasia.A revised generic classification has been suggested that is consistent with a molecular phylogenetic hypothesis. Accordingly, within the Batillariidae four genera ''Batillaria'', ''Pyrazus'', ''Velacumantus'' and ''Zeacumantus'' have been recognized. This delimitation of taxa is consistent with a revised definition of the family based on shell characters.
Ecology and distribution Batillarids are abundant on sandy mudflats, and sometimes on rocky shores, on continental margins in the warm-temperate to tropical regions of the northwestern Pacific Ocean, Australasia and the Americas.
Fossil record and biogeography Batillariids appeared in the Late Cretaceous or Palaeocene, and the extinct genera ''Pyrazopsis'', ''Vicinocerithium'' and ''Granulolabium'' became diverse in the Tethyan realm before the group disappeared from Europe at the end of the Miocene. The Batillariidae s. s. reached Australia and New Zealand by the Late Oligocene, and the genera ''Pyrazus'', ''Velacumantus'' and ''Zeacumantus'' still survive in this refugium of Tethyan fauna.Two lineages, ''Batillaria'' and the extinct ''Tateiwaia'', migrated north to China and Japan in the Early Miocene, to establish the present disjunct distribution of this relictual group in southern Australasia and the Oriental region.
Genera Genera within the family Batillariidae include:'''Neotropical genera''' (to be placed in a new family):* ''Lampanella'' Mörch, 1876* ''Rhinocoryne'' Martens, 1900'''Indopacific genera''' (Batillariidae sensu stricto):* ''Batillaria'' Benson, 1842  - type genus of the family Batillariidae, synonym: ''Lampania'' Gray, 1847* ''Pyrazus'' Montfort, 1810* ''Zeacumantus'' Finlay, 1926, synonym: ''Batillariella'' Thiele, 1931* ''Velacumantus'' Iredale, 1936'''Fossil genera''':* ''Granulolabium'' Cossmann, 1889* ''Tiaracerithium'' Sacco, 1895; possibly a synonym of ''Granulolabium'' * ''Vicinocerithium''E. Wood, 1910 * ''Tateiwaia'' Makiyama, 1936* ''Pyrazopsis'' Akopjan, 1972
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