Pachychilidae

Faunus ater (Linnaeus, 1758)

Pachychilidae (of pachy (Greek ) = thick, and chilus (Greek ) = lip or - lipped, so to German Thicklip about snails, to the often thickened mouth rim of the bowl referring ) are a family of freshwater snails with a worldwide distribution in the tropics and representatives in South and Central America, Africa, Madagascar and Southeast Asia. As an explanation for such distribution pattern of offers on the assumption that the last common ancestor of all living today Pachychilidae must have lived in Gondwana. The splitting of this ancient continent into the continents as we know them today, led by the continental drift then mean that his descendants, the recent Pachychilidae, on all (or most) of the fractions of the former Gondwana continent can be found.

Although the Pachychilidae by authors of the 19th and 20th century were often confused with the Thiaridae or Pleuroceridae, another group of freshwater snails with superficially similar in appearance, but they are not closely related with this. The show, in particular modern molecular genetic studies.

Also anatomically can be Thiaridae and Pachychilidae easily distinguish the different construction of the operculum, the radula, the embryonic shell and the anatomy of the soft body.

Except for a single species, the brackwasserbewohnenden Faunus ater, all Pachychilidae occupy exclusively freshwater. The family includes both egg-laying ( oviparous ) and viviparous ( ovoviviparous and viviparous real ) representative. In the latter, the females have a special brood pouch in which they developed both eggs and the developing young animals up to their shelter than done, small snails are retained. The family includes several genera:

Genera of Pachychilidae

  • Faunus de Montfort, 1810
  • Pachychilus I. Lea & HC Lea, 1851 ( South and Central America, oviparous )
  • Proteas Swainson, 1840 ( South and Central America, oviparous )
  • Potadoma Swainson, 1840 ( Africa)
  • Madagasikara Köhler & Glaubrecht, 2010 synonym:. Melanatria auctt (Madagascar)
  • Sulcospira Troschel, 1858 - synonym: Adamietta Brandt, 1974 ( Southeast Asia)
  • Brotia H. Adams, 1866 ( Southeast Asia)
  • Paracrostoma Cossmann, 1900 (South India )
  • Pseudopotamis Martens, 1894 (Torres Strait Islands, Australia, viviparous )
  • Tylomelania Sarasin & Sarasin, 1897 ( Sulawesi )
  • Jagora Köhler & Glaubrecht, 2003 ( Philippines)

Credentials

Other sources

  • Köhler, F., Glaubrecht, M. 2006: A systematic revision of the Southeast Asian freshwater gastropod Brotia ( Cerithioidea: Pachychilidae ). Malacologia, 48: 159-251.
  • Köhler, F., Rintelen, TV, Meyer, A., Glaubrecht, M. 2004: Multiple origin of viviparity in Southeast Asian Gastropods ( Cerithioidea: Pachychilidae ) and its evolutionary implications. Evolution, 58: 2215-2226.
Caenogastropoda Sorbeoconcha Franz Hermann Troschel Middle America (region) Operculum (gastropod) Genus Madagasikara (gastropod)
629224
de