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).