Barleeiidae

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Barleeiidae (often also spelled Barleeidae) is a family of small sea snails, micromollusks in the clade Littorinimorpha.<ref name="WoRMS">Gofas S. (1995). A remarkable species richness of the Barleeidae (Gastropoda: Rissoacea) in the Eastern Atlantic. The Nautilus 109(1): 14-37</ref>

These snails are very abundant and live in sublittoral and intertidal waters on rocky substrates.

The shells are conical to high-spired. Their inner shell layer is chitinous. They are further characterized by a foot with sometimes a posterior mucous gland. Their olfactory organ, the osphradium is enlarged. In some species there are oesophageal pouches present. Their penis is sometimes provided with prostatic tissue. Their oviduct glands show a simple histology.<ref>Ponder W. F. (1983). Review of the genera of the Barleeidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Rissoacea)". Records of the Australian Museum 35: 231-281.</ref>

Few malacologists are currently working on micromollusks. Since they are so small (only a few millimeters in size), they are difficult to study and classify. Therefore, these small mollusks are less well known than the larger ones.

Genera

Genera in the family Baleeiidae include:

Ansola Slavoschevskaya, 1975
Barleeia Clark, 1853 - Barleysnails
Caelatura Conrad, 1853
Fictonoba Ponder, 1967
Ketosia Dos Santos & Absalao, 2006<ref>WoRMS (2009). Ketosia. Accessed through the World Register of Marine Species at http://marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=391637 on 2010-09-16</ref>
Lirobarleeia Ponder, 1983
Protobarleeia Ponder, 1983
Pseudodiala Ponder, 1967
Tropidorissoia Tomlin & Shackleford, 1915