Appalachina is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of small, air-breathing, land snail

Snail

Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...

s, terrestrial

Terrestrial animal

Terrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land , as compared with aquatic animals, which live predominantly or entirely in the water , or amphibians, which rely on a combination of aquatic and terrestrial habitats...

 pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Polygyridae

Polygyridae

Polygyridae is a family of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Helicoidea.The Polygyridae make up a significant proportion of the land snail fauna of eastern North America, and are also found in western North America, northern Central America, and...

.

Taxonomy

Henry Augustus Pilsbry

Henry Augustus Pilsbry

Henry Augustus Pilsbry was an American biologist, malacologist and carcinologist, among other areas of study. He was a dominant presence in many fields of invertebrate taxonomy for the better part of a century...

 created what was then the subgenus Appalachina (under the genus Mesodon

Mesodon

Mesodon is a genus of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Polygyridae.-Species:Species within the genus Mesodon include:* Mesodon altivagus - wandering globe...

), a group of land snails in the family Polygyridae

Polygyridae

Polygyridae is a family of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Helicoidea.The Polygyridae make up a significant proportion of the land snail fauna of eastern North America, and are also found in western North America, northern Central America, and...

, for those snails with comparatively depressed (flat) shells and an open umbilicus (the center of the underside of the shell). The reproductive anatomy of these snails is important for distinguishing them from other polygyrids.

Species

The genus Appalachina includes the following species:

• Appalachina sayana
  Appalachina sayana
  The Appalachina sayana, also known as the Spike-lip Crater, is a species of small, air-breathing, land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the family Polygyridae.- Distribution and conservation status :...
  
  (Pilsbry
  Henry Augustus Pilsbry
  Henry Augustus Pilsbry was an American biologist, malacologist and carcinologist, among other areas of study. He was a dominant presence in many fields of invertebrate taxonomy for the better part of a century...
  
  , 1906)
• Appalachina chilhoweensis (Lewis, 1870)