Giant snails
| Giant snails | ||||||||||||
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Zonites algirus (Linné, 1758) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Zonitidae | ||||||||||||
| Mørch , 1864 |
The giant gloss snails (Zonitidae) are the only family of the superfamily Zonitoidea from the subordination of the land snails (Stylommatophora). They are very small to medium-sized forms that often live in the system of gaps in the floor or under stones. About 60 species of this family live in Europe.
features
The housings are rounded to flattened. They can be adults up to 5 cm, but also only a few millimeters. The animals can still completely withdraw into the housing. The shell is thin and translucent, the ornamentation generally weak. The color varies from almost colorless-light to brown. The mouth is simple with a few exceptions where projections protrude into the mouth. The navel of the case is wide to narrow, sometimes even closed.
Occurrence and way of life
The animals are distributed holarctic. The focus of diversity is in Southeast Europe. They occur there mainly in humid areas of the mountains, in crevices and rubble fields. The animals live on decaying parts of plants, carrion or predatory on other snails.
Systematics
The giant snail family is the only family in the superfamily Zonitoidea. In the past, the independent family Oxychilidae was also counted as a subfamily of the giant gloss snails.
- Giant snails (Zonitidae)
- Genus Aegopinella Lindholm, 1927
- Genus Aegopis Fitzinger, 1833
- Whorl snail ( Aegopis verticillus )
- Genus Allaegopis Riedel, 1979
- Genus Balcanodiscus Riedel & Urbanski, 1964
- Genus Doraegopis Riedel, 1982
- Genus Meledella Sturany, 1908
- Genus Nesovitrea CM Cooke, 1921
- Genus Paraegopis Hesse, 1910
- Genus Retinella P. Fischer, 1877
- Genus Thasiogenes Riedel, 1998
- Genus Troglaegopis Riedel & Radja, 1983
- Genus Turcozonites Riedel, 1987
- Genus Zonites Montfort, 1810
- Giant Gloss Snail ( Zonites algirus )
literature
- Rosina Fechter and Gerhard Falkner: molluscs. 287 pp., Mosaik-Verlag, Munich 1990 (Steinbach's Nature Guide 10), ISBN 3-570-03414-3
- Bernhard Hausdorf: Phylogeny of the Limacoidea sensu lato (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora). Journal of Molluscan Studies, 64: 35-66, London 1998, ISSN 0260-1230 PDF
- Jürgen H. Jungbluth and Dietrich von Knorre: Common names of land and freshwater mollusks in Germany (Gastropoda et Bivalvia). Mollusca, 26 (1): 105-156, Dresden 2008 ISSN 1864-5127
- Anatolij A. Schileyko: Treatise on Recent Terrestrial Pulmonate Molluscs Part 10 Ariophantidae, Ostracolethidae, Ryssotidae, Milacidae, Dyakiidae, Staffordiidae, Gastrodontidae, Zonitidae, Daudebardiidae, Parmacellidae. Ruthenica, Supplement 2 (10): 1307-1488, Moscow 2003, ISSN 0136-0027
