Black-capped snails

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Black-capped snails
Holandriana holandrii, Drauchenbach (Styria)

Holandriana holandrii , Drauchenbach (Styria)

Systematics
Class : Snails (gastropoda)
Subclass : Orthogastropoda
Superordinate : Caenogastropoda
Order : Sorbeoconcha
Superfamily : Cerithioidea
Family : Black-capped snails
Scientific name
Melanopsidae
H. Adams & A. Adams , 1854

The black snails ( Melanopsidae , type genus Melanopsis "of black appearance" μέλας "black" + ὄψις, ὤψ "appearance") are a small family in the fresh water of live snails order sorbeoconcha that in Europe , North Africa , Asia , New Zealand and some Pacific Islands spread are. There are about ten known recent species in six recognized genera .

Features and way of life

The small to large snails have an egg-shaped or narrow conical housing with a mostly solid wall, only slightly arched or even stepped passages and often nodular ribs or a smooth surface. The case mouth is often provided with a groove at the bottom. The operculum has only a few turns. The snails have a smooth hem.

Both females and males appear in all species. It will be stored eggs from which finished worm hatch.

The black snails feed as grazers mainly of algae .

Occurrence and distribution

Black-capped snails mostly prefer solid substrates in streams and rivers , mainly in subtropical to tropical regions. Its disjoint distribution area includes the Mediterranean area with the catchment area of the Danube , North Africa and the Middle East , as well as the rivers of New Zealand , New Caledonia and some other Pacific islands.

Systematics

According to the system of Bouchet and Rocroi (2005), the Melanopsidae family, along with many other families, belongs to the superfamily Cerithioidea , within which freshwater was populated several times from the sea. According to Bouchet and Rocroi, the Melanopsidae family has no subfamilies. There are the following genera (with details of some species):

literature

  • K. Bandel (2006): Families of the Cerithioidea and related superfamilies (Palaeo-Caenogastropoda; Mollusca) from the Triassic to the Recent characterized by protoconch morphology - including the description of new taxa . Freiberger Forschungshefte C 511, pp. 59-138. PDF .
  • Philippe Bouchet & Jean-Pierre Rocroi: Part 2. Working classification of the Gastropoda . Malacologia, 47: 239-283, Ann Arbor 2005 ISSN 0076-2997
  • David S. Brown: Freshwater Snails of Africa and their Medical Importance . Taylor & Francis, London 2002. p. 152. Family Melanopsidae .
  • Matthias Glaubrecht: Evolutionary ecology and systematics using the example of freshwater and brackish water snails (Mollusca: Caenogastropoda: Cerithioidea): ontogenesis strategies, paleontological findings and historical zoogeography . Backhuys, Leiden 1996. p. 248ff. Monophyly of the Melanopsidae .
  • Peter Glöer: Freshwater gastropods in Northern and Central Europe: key to identification, way of life, distribution . ConchBooks, Harxheim 2002. pp. 75, 190ff. Family Melanopsidae H. &. A. Adams 1854 . ISBN 978-3925919602
  • Thomas A. Neubauer (2016): A nomenclator of extant and fossil taxa of the Melanopsidae (Gastropoda, Cerithioidea) . ZooKeys 602, pp. 1-358. doi: 10.3897 / zookeys.602.8136

Web links

Commons : Black-capped snails  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files