A reinterpretation of the mode of life of some Paleozoic frilled gastropods

Abstract
Most modern gastropods crawl and support their shells up off the substrate. However, 5 different groupings of snails predominantly rest their shell upon the substrate. One group, Xenophora-like in habit, lives with the base of the shell propped above the substrate by a frill or spines. Re-examination of the Silurian Euomphalopterus shows that the broad frill is not a selenizone as it has been most frequently interpreted. The broad frill may have served the function of propping the aperture above the substrate. All members of the Euomphalopteridae are reassigned. A review of Paleozoic gastropods suggests that this propping mode of life was adopted more than once by unrelated gastropods.

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