Hyalogyrina Marshall 1988

Genus Hyalogyrina Marshall, 1988

Type species. Hyalogyrina glabra Marshall, 1988; original designation. New Zealand, Recent.

Remarks. Hyalogyrinidae unite small, largely smooth-shelled lower heterobranchs which differ from each other mostly in radular characters. Warén & Bouchet (1993) argue that Hyalogyrina Marshall, 1988, and Hyalogyra Marshall, 1988 differ in the type of protoconch ― hyperstrophic and not hyperstrophic, respectively. Our shells seem to have a hyperstrophic protoconch and this is why we classify them in Hyalogyrina. There are a number of similar genera described from the fossil record: Bandellina Schröder, 1995, Alexogyra Bandel, 1996, Carboninia Bandel, 1996 and Doggerostra Gründel, 1998, which differ from each other only in minor details. This led Kaim (2004) to synonymize them all in the genus Bandellina Schröder, 1995. It seems, however, that the majority of these forms might instead be classified in Hyalogyrina Marshall, 1988 as they form a continuum of morphologically similar forms with a hyperstrophic protoconch, with the name Hyalogyrina having priority. Bandel (1996) stated that his Triassic genus Alexogyra differs from the Recent genus Hyalogyra in being smaller and having more protoconch whorls.