Diagnosis. Shell umbilicate, whorls rounded, peristome complete; aperture not strongly oblique. Afferent ctenidial membrane present. Cephalic lappets lacking, left and right neck lobes much reduced. Snout with long papillae around mouth; mouth broad, opening a longitudinal slit; cephalic tentacles expanded at base. Foot with drawn-out anterior-lateral comers and elongate, tapered posterior end, capable of expanding over base of shell. Rachidian, lateral, and marginal teeth of radula with overhanging and pointed tips; rachidian with broad base but not flanged; lateral teeth 2-3 pairs, with denticles only on outer sides; marginal teeth numerous.
Biology. The Solariellidae live offshore on soft bottoms. The external features of the animal, particularly the morphology of the snout and the minimal development of neck lobes, are unlike those of other trochids, modified for a particular kind of food collecting on soft bottoms, as first noted by Fretter and Graham (1977) and treated further by Herbert (1987) and Hickman and McLean (1990). The gill condition, in which the afferent membrane is present, is that of advanced trochids; the reduced neck lobes and absence of the cephalic lappets may therefore be a secondary loss in this group.
Remarks. All genera have an open umbilicus, an impressed suture and a complete peritreme with little slant to the apertural margin. The radula is unique to the subfamily.
The family is widely distributed in all seas and has an extensive fossil record since the Upper Cretaceous. Herbert (1987) reviewed the numerous southern African members of Solariellidae.