The microgastropod family Triphoridae are one of the five most diverse molluscan families and are generally identified by characteristics of their shell (the majority is sinistral). Until now there has been no molecular data available for the Triphoridae in online databases. However, to confirm species delimitations based on morphological characteristics, DNA sequences would be of great interest. 23 238 specimens of Triphorids were collected during the Santo expedition 2006 organised by the Musum National dHistoire Naturelle of Paris, the Institut de Recherche pour le Dveloppement and Pro Natura International. A division in morphospecies was made for both empty shells and living animals using the characteristics usually taken into account for morphological analysis (protoconch, teleoconch, shell sculpture and aperture). In total, 257 morphospecies were found in the dry samples of which 70% are supposed to be new to science. The 'DNA barcode' collection consisted of 549 live specimens that were divided into 73 morphospecies, of which 2 were new compared to the dry samples. Specimens were all photographed; pictures were made of the protoconch, the aperture, the teleoconch and the operculum. Foot tissue from cracked specimens only was used for DNA analyses; shells and operculum were kept intact as much as possible for identification and morphological comparison afterwards. Two gene fragments were amplified: a fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I, which is frequently used in barcoding approaches for animals, and the nuclear 28S gene. The DNA sequences confirm the hypothesized morphospecies very well, as both COI and 28S show a very low variability within each morphospecies but high variability between morphospecies. The phylogenetic trees obtained were also useful to a posteriori discuss the value of the morphological characteristics, both at the species and above-species levels. Furthermore, as shown by this integrative approach, morphospecies are a good proxy of the species delimitation, and empty shells, which represents the majority of the collected shells and cannot be sequenced, can be used to assess the species diversity in the context of biodiversity studies.
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