Synonym: Wireniidae Salvini-Plawen, 1978.
Type genus. -- Gymnomenia Odhner, 1921.
Radula small, with distichous hooks; cuticle thin, epidermal spicules
flat, small, thin adpressed plates; ventral salivary glands as goblet cells
opening through numerous ductules; with anteroventral commissure sac. Contains
the genera Gymnomenia Odhner, Wirenia Odhner, 1921, and Genitoconia
Salvini-Plawen, 1967.
Remarks. -- The family Gymnomeniidae is differentiated from the
family Lepidomeniidae by the form of the ventral salivary glands (Salvini-Plawen,
1988), which are tubular and paired in the Lepidomeniidae. However, the
similarity in presence of a genital 'cone' in genera belonging to both
families raises some questions about family definition.
From Ophelia 51 (1): 1-28 (1999).