A new Brazilian tornid is possibly the flattest coiled snail

摘要

The present paper is an example showing that the knowledge of Brazilian molluscan biodiversity remains relatively poor (Simone, 2009, 2011). It describes a new genus and species recently collected in shallow waters in an area that is relatively well-populated, but apparently still poorly studied malacologically. The new taxon belongs to the family Tornidae (=Vitrinellidae) (Caenogastropoda: Rissooidea) (Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005), which comprises minute discoid-shelled gastropods, living in warm, shallow, marine waters all over the world (see Rubio, Fernández-Garcés & Rolán, 2011, for a complete introduction to the family). Their shells are relatively simple, but possess informative characters for classification. Nevertheless, possibly because of their small size, tornids have received little attention and new taxa are routine.