Acicula (genus)

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Acicula
Striped sludge needle (Acicula lineata)

Striped sludge needle ( Acicula lineata )

Systematics
Class : Snails (gastropoda)
Superordinate : Caenogastropoda
Order : Architaenioglossa
Superfamily : Cyclophoroidea
Family : Mulm needles (Aciculidae)
Genre : Acicula
Scientific name
Acicula
Hartmann , 1821

Acicula is a land-dwelling genus of snails from the order of the Architaenioglossa ("Alt-Bandzüngler"). It is the type genus of the family of aciculidae (Aciculidae). The oldest species of the genus comes from the Chattian ( Oligocene , Paleogene ).

features

The small cases of the genus Acicula range in height from 1.35 to 6.2 mm, in width from 0.5 to 1.85 mm. They are highly conical to almost cylindrical with up to eight whorls. They are always more than twice as high as they are wide. A seam edge is more or less clearly defined, or it can also be missing. The ornamentation consists of numerous, more or less regularly arranged, deepened, radial, fine grooves. The surface is very shiny, the skin translucent and colorless. Some species form a more or less strong, simple neck bulge, which in fully grown specimens is separated from the mouth edge by a channel.

In relation to the case, the whitish translucent body is comparatively small and slim. The head is set off from the neck by a groove that runs diagonally towards the edge of the sole. The sole is separated from the body by a weaker and a stronger longitudinal furrow. The snout on the head can be extended far forward, but an actual proboscis is not developed. The long, thread-like antennae are strongly contractile. The lid on the back of the narrow foot protrudes beyond the foot on both sides. It has 2½ to 2¾ whorls.

The animals are of separate sex. The few eggs that are laid by the females are very large in relation to their body size.

Geographical distribution and habitat

The distribution area of ​​the genus Acicula extends, with large gaps from Great Britain in the west, over all of Europe, North Africa, Asia Minor to Iran and Israel . The oldest species of the genus Acicula is Acicula filifera Sandberger, 1862 from the Chattian ( Oligocene , Paleogene ) of Germany.

Most types of the needles live deep in the ground, under rotten wood and under leaves between overgrown rocks. At least one species, Platyla procax from Montenegro, seems to be a real cave snail. As far as is known, the animals feed on the eggs of other snail species and fungal hyphae.

Taxonomy, nomenclature and systematics

The genus Acicula was proposed by Johann Daniel Wilhelm Hartmann in 1821 . Type species by monotype is the kind Auricula lineata Draparnaud, 1805. synonyms are Acme Hartmann, 1821 and Pupula Charpentier, 1837 (type species by Monotype: Auricula lineata Draparnaud, 1805. acicula W. Hartmann, 1821 is the type genus of Aciculidae JE Gray family in 1850 ( Mulm needles )).

At present 28 species of the genus are known, 19 of them recent Acicula species. Five Acicula species have been described exclusively from fossil deposits. Four recent Acicula species are also known from Miocene deposits.

supporting documents

literature

  • Fechter, Rosina & Gerhard Falkner 1990: Mollusks. 287 pp., Mosaik-Verlag, Munich (Steinbach's Nature Guide 10) ISBN 3-570-03414-3 (p. 126)
  • Michael P. Kerney, RAD Cameron & Jürgen H. Jungbluth 1983: The land snails of Northern and Central Europe. 384 pp., Paul Parey, Hamburg & Berlin ISBN 3-490-17918-8
  • Boeters, Hans D., Gittenberger, Edmund & Péter Subai 1989: The Aciculidae (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Prosobranchia). Zoological Negotiations, 252: 1-234, Leiden. PDF
  • Francisco W. Welter-Schultes: European non-marine molluscs, a guide for species identification = identification book for European land and freshwater mollusks. A1-A3 S., 679 S., Q1-Q78 S., Göttingen, Planet Poster Ed., 2012 ISBN 3-933922-75-5 , ISBN 978-3-933922-75-5

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Johann Daniel Wilhelm Hartmann: System of terrestrial and river snails in Switzerland. With a comparative listing of all species found in neighboring countries, Germany, France and Italy. Neue Alpina, 1: 194-268, plates 1–2, Winterthur 1821 Online at Google Books (pp. 205, 215).
  2. ^ Mathias Neubauer, Thomas A. Neubauer: Opole (Poland) - a ley locality for middle Miocene terrestrial mollusc faunas. Bulletin of Geosciences 93 (1): 71-146, 2018 doi : 10.3140 / bull.geosci.1692
  3. ↑ Roman Egorov: treaure of Russian shells. Illustrated catalog of the recent terrestrial molluscs of Russia and adjacent regions. Supplement 5. Moscow, 2008 ISSN 1025-2517, p. 19.
  4. ^ Peter Subai: New land snails from Montenegro and Albania. Archive for Molluscology, 138 (1): 103-112, Frankfurt / Main 2009 PDF

Web links

Commons : Acicula  - collection of images, videos and audio files