Coxiella 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 aquatic snails that live in saline lakes, and have gills and an operculum

Operculum (gastropod)

The operculum, meaning little lid, is a corneous or calcareous anatomical structure which exists in many groups of sea snails and freshwater snails, and also in a few groups of land snails...

, aquatic

Aquatic animal

An aquatic animal is an animal, either vertebrate or invertebrate, which lives in water for most or all of its life. It may breathe air or extract its oxygen from that dissolved in water through specialised organs called gills, or directly through its skin. Natural environments and the animals that...

 gastropod mollusks in the family Pomatiopsidae

Pomatiopsidae

Pomatiopsidae is a family of small mainly freshwater snails with gills and an operculum, aquatic gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Rissooidea ....

.

Distribution

The distribution of genus Coxiella includes Tasmania and Australia: southern Australia, central Australia and northern Queensland.

Species

Davis (1979) recognized 10 species (9 in Australia) and one subrecent species Coxiella badgerensis in Tasmania.

Species within the genus Coxiella include:

subgenus Coxiella

• † Coxiella badgerensis (Johnston, 1879) - subrecent
• Coxiella exposita Iredale, 1943
• Coxiella glabra MacPherson, 1957
• Coxiella glauertii MacPherson, 1954
• Coxiella minima MacPherson, 1954
• Coxiella molesta Iredale, 1943
• Coxiella pyrrhostoma (Cox, 1868)
• Coxiella striata (Reeve, 1842)
• Coxiella striatula (Menke, 1843) - type species

subgenus Coxielladda Iredale & Whitley, 1938

• Coxiella gilesi (Angas, 1877)

Ecology

This genus consists of halophilic species which occur in temporal and permanent saline lakes.

Coxiella snails are iteroparous. When the saline lake dries out, adults of Coxiella are able to survive.