In the species in this family, the diverticulum may be present or absent. They possess a single dart apparatus with one stylophore (dart sac) and two mucus glands. These snails use the love dart as part of their mating behavior.
In this subfamily, the number of haploidchromosomes lies between 26 and 30 (according to the values in this table).[3]
The basic nomenclature and taxonomy of this large and complex subfamily of land snails has been the subject of many modifications, and the list of genera given here is applicable only when the subfamily is broadly interpreted. Many of these snail genera have been placed by various authors in more restrictively defined families, such as: Cepolidae, Epiphragmophoridae, Humboldtianidae, Monadeniidae, and Xanthonychidae.[4][5][6][7]
subtribe Helminthoglyptina Pilsbry, 1939: the mucus glands lie adjacent to the vagina or to the sheath of the dart apparatus; the ducts of the glands are provided with bulbous reservoirs.[citation needed]
subtribe Micrariontina Schileyko, 1991: the mucus glands lie adjacent to the dart sac; in part the dart apparatus is missing.
ITIS listed 16 genera under Helminthoglyptidae.[8][9][10]WoRMS added the two genera Greggelix and Micrarionta, as well as dividing the subfamily into two tribes.[2] They are listed below:
^Binney, William G. (1878). The Terrestrial Air-Breathing Mollusks of the United States and Adjacent Territories of North America. Vol. 5 (plates). Bull. Mus. Comparative Zool., Harvard. Plate 16.
^Barker G. M.: Gastropods on Land: Phylogeny, Diversity and Adaptive Morphology. in Barker G. M. (ed.): The biology of terrestrial molluscs. CABI Publishing, Oxon, UK, 2001, ISBN0-85199-318-4. 1-146, cited pages: 139 and 142.
^Burch, John B. (1962). How to know the Eastern Land Snails. Wm. C. Brown Co.: Dubuque IA, 214 pp.
^Hubricht, Leslie. (1985). The distribution of the native land molluscs of the eastern United States. Fieldiana Zool. 24: 1-191.
^Pilsbry, Henry A. 1939. Land Mollusca of North America (North of Mexico). Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Monograph 3, vol. 1(1): 1-573.
^Bouchet, P.; Rocroi, J.-P. (Ed.); Frýda, J.; Hausdorf, B.; Ponder, W.; Valdes, A.; Warén, A. (2005). Classification and nomenclature of gastropod families. Malacologia: International Journal of Malacology, 47(1-2).
