Phylogenetic relationships of the Camaenidae (Pulmonata: Stylommatophora: Helicoidea)

The land snail family Camaenidae is defined by the lack of characters, such as dart sac and glands, which are present in related families. Although the Camaenidae is regarded as monophyletic, no synapomorphies unite the family. It is possible that the Camaenidae is para- or polyphyletic. This was investigated using a cladistic analysis of the superfamily Helicoidea which was based on anatomical characters from previous studies by Tillier (1989). Camaenidae was split into two geographical groups (American and Australasian). Successive weighting generated a single most parsimonious cladogram (length 198, c.i. 0.61, r.i. 0.64), which suggested that the Camaenidae is a polyphyletic taxon. Evidence from this analysis demonstrated that the American component of the Camaenidae is closely related to the Helicidae and Helminthoglyptidae, and Australasian component is sister group to Bradybaenidae.