Stenothyridae
Encyclopedia
Stenothyridae is a 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...

 of freshwater snail
Freshwater snail
A freshwater snail is one kind of freshwater mollusc, the other kind being freshwater clams and mussels, i.e. freshwater bivalves. Specifically a freshwater snail is a gastropod that lives in a watery non-marine habitat. The majority of freshwater gastropods have a shell, with very few exceptions....

s, 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 with 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 superfamily Rissooidea
Rissooidea
Rissooidea, originally named Rissoacea by Grey, 1847, is a large taxonomic superfamily of small and minute saltwater, brackish water, freshwater, and semi-terrestrial snails which have gills and an operculum...

.

This family has no subfamilies.

Distribution

There are known about 60 freshwater species of Stenothyridae in the Palearctic
Palearctic
The Palearctic or Palaearctic is one of the eight ecozones dividing the Earth's surface.Physically, the Palearctic is the largest ecozone...

 (6 species), Oriental (about 60 species) and Australasian region (about 5 species) and some marine. There are 19 endemic species of Stenothyridae in the Lower Mekong River flowing through Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.

Description

American malacologist George Washington Tryon
George Washington Tryon
George Washington Tryon, Jr. was an American malacologist who worked at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.- Biography :George Washington Tryon was the son of Edward K. Tryon and Adeline Savidt...

 firstly defined this taxon as Stenothyrinæ in 1866. Tryon's diagnosis reads as follows:
Genus Gabbia is classified in Bithyniidae
Bithyniidae
Bithyniidae is a family of small freshwater snails with an operculum, aquatic gastropod molluscs in the clade Littorinimorpha.Their minute shell is often colored. They are characterized by a calcareous operculum, a lobe on the upper surface of the neck. The ctenidium, the respiratory gill-comb, is...

 nowadays.

Genera

Genera within the family Stenothyridae include:
  • Gangetia Ancey, 1890
  • Stenothyra
    Stenothyra
    Stenothyra is a genus of freshwater snails which have a gill and an operculum, aquatic gastropod mollusks in the family Stenothyridae.Stenothyra is the type genus of the family Stenothyridae.- Distribution :...

    Benson, 1856 - type genus of the family Stenothyridae

Ecology

The habitat of Stenothyridae include rivers, streams and estuaries. Stenothyridae invaded freshwater habitats from marine ones in at least one independent lineage. Some species of Stenothyridae are euryhaline
Euryhaline
Euryhaline organisms are able to adapt to a wide range of salinities. An example of a euryhaline fish is the molly which can live in fresh, brackish, or salt water. The European shore crab is an example of a euryhaline invertebrate that can live in salt and brackish water...

 and/or marine. Probably there are some amphidromous (migrate from freshwater to the sea) species of Stenothyridae.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK