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Portal:Gastropods

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The gastropods portal

Various gastropods from different types: black slug (a slug), Haliotis asinina (an abalone), Cornu aspersum (a land snail), Notarchus indicus (a seahare), Patella vulgata (a limpet), and Polycera aurantiomarginata (a nudibranch).

Gastropods (/ˈɡæstrəpɒdz/), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (/ɡæsˈtrɒpədə/).

This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and from the land. There are many thousands of species of sea snails and slugs, as well as freshwater snails, freshwater limpets, land snails and slugs.

The class Gastropoda is a diverse and highly successful class of mollusks within the phylum Mollusca. It contains a vast total of named species, second only to the insects in overall number. The fossil history of this class goes back to the Late Cambrian. As of 2017, 721 families of gastropods are known, of which 245 are extinct and appear only in the fossil record, while 476 are currently extant with or without a fossil record.

Gastropoda (previously known as univalves and sometimes spelled "Gasteropoda") are a major part of the phylum Mollusca, and are the most highly diversified class in the phylum, with 65,000 to 80,000 living snail and slug species. The anatomy, behavior, feeding, and reproductive adaptations of gastropods vary significantly from one clade or group to another, so stating many generalities for all gastropods is difficult.

The class Gastropoda has an extraordinary diversification of habitats. Representatives live in gardens, woodland, deserts, and on mountains; in small ditches, great rivers, and lakes; in estuaries, mudflats, the rocky intertidal, the sandy subtidal, the abyssal depths of the oceans, including the hydrothermal vents, and numerous other ecological niches, including parasitic ones.

Although the name "snail" can be, and often is, applied to all the members of this class, commonly this word means only those species with an external shell big enough that the soft parts can withdraw completely into it. Slugs are gastropods that have no shell or a very small, internal shell; semislugs are gastropods that have a shell that they can partially retreat into but not entirely.

The marine shelled species of gastropods include species such as abalone, conches, periwinkles, whelks, and numerous other sea snails that produce seashells that are coiled in the adult stage—though in some, the coiling may not be very visible, for example in cowries. In a number of families of species, such as all the various limpets, the shell is coiled only in the larval stage, and is a simple conical structure after that. (Full article...)

Selected article

Many live Hexaplex trunculus in a fish market in Spain

Tyrian purple, also known as royal purple, imperial purple or imperial dye, is a natural purple-red dye which is extracted from certain sea snails, and which was first produced by the ancient Phoenicians. This dye was greatly prized in antiquity because it did not fade, instead it became brighter and more intense with weathering and sunlight. Tyrian purple was expensive: the 4th-century-BC historian Theopompus reported, "Purple for dyes fetched its weight in silver at Colophon" in Asia Minor.

The dye substance is a milky mucous secretion from the hypobranchial gland of one of three species of medium-sized predatory sea snails that occur in the eastern Mediterranean Sea: Bolinus brandaris, the spiny dye-murex; the banded dye-murex Hexaplex trunculus; and the rock-snail Stramonita haemastoma. (Read more...)

Selected biography

portrait of white headed man with glasses
A. C. van Bruggen
Adolph Cornelis van Bruggen, also known as A. C. van Bruggen or Dolf van Bruggen (1929–2016) was a malacologist, entomologist and botanist from the Netherlands. He has been interested in the tropics and tropical Africa has dominated his broad scientific interest for more than 50 years now.

He was especially expert in the land snail families Streptaxidae, Achatinidae and Maizaniidae, and as of 2008, had written 655 scientific publications. (Read more...)

Did you know?


  • three views of the shell
    Neripteron cornucopia
    ... that Neripteron cornucopia (three views of a shell pictured) was rediscovered in India after 180 years?



  • brown slug-like sas nail heading left
    Coriocella nigra
    ... that the marine gastropod Coriocella nigra (pictured) has five lobes on its body?


  • ... that the Cretaceous snail Condonella was described in 1927, but not placed into a snail family until 2000?


  • a right handed shell
    Photo of an apertural view of Sinotaia aeruginosa
    ... that Sinotaia aeruginosa (shell pictured) is common in restaurants in China?
  • a right handed shell
    Drawing of an apertural view of Acmella nana
    ... that Acmella nana (shell pictured) is the smallest known land snail?
  • a right handed shell with apex eroded
    Drawing of an apertural view of Semisulcospira libertina
    ... that Semisulcospira libertina (shell pictured) is the most common freshwater snail in Japan?
  • lateral view of two heteropods
    Drawing of two Carinaria cristata, the upper one without the shell
    ... that the fragile shell of the glassy nautilus Carinaria cristata (pictured) was at one time considered to be worth more than its weight in gold?
  • a pinkish nudibranch
    Photo of dorsal view of Spurilla neapolitana
    ... that Spurilla neapolitana (pictured) defends itself with stinging cells derived from the sea anemones it eats?
  • a right handed shell with a palatal tooth
    Photo of an apertural view of Pupilla pratensis
    ... that Pupilla pratensis (shell pictured) has long been neglected in the malacological literature?
  • a lake Skadar between Albania and Montenegro
    Map of Lake Skadar
    ... that there are 12 endemic species of freshwater snails in Lake Skadar (map pictured)?
  • a left handed shell
    Photo of an apertural view of Balea sarsii
    ... that the land snail Balea sarsii (shell pictured) has been overlooked for a long time?
  • a cylindrical brown shell
    Photo of an apertural view of Vertigo ultimathule
    ... that the land snail Vertigo ultimathule (shell pictured) is endemic to the northernmost part of Scandinavia?
  • a narrowly conical shell
    Drawing of an apertural view of Hinea brasiliana
    ... that flashes of light emitted by the sea snail Hinea brasiliana (shell pictured) may act as a "burglar alarm"?
  • ... that Candidula arganica, a snail found in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, lives primarily in meadows?


  • ... that Candidula spadae, a snail native to Central Italy, is at risk in part because of tourist activities?


  • a black and white wrawing of dorsal view of a slug
    Drawing of dorsal view of Rathouisia leonina
    ... that the land slug Rathouisia leonina (pictured) from China is carnivorous?
  • an apical view of a valvatiform white shell
    a shell of Hauffenia sp. from Slovakia
    ... that the subterranean freshwater snail Hauffenia sp. from Slovakia (shell pictured) has been an undescribed species since the 1980s?
  • a grey snail with a flat brown shell
    a live Oxychilus camelinus
    ... that the land snail Oxychilus camelinus (pictured) was described from Lebanon?
  • apertural view of a brown shell
    shell of holotype of Abbottella calliotropis
    ... that land snails of the genus Abbottella (Abbottella calliotropis shell pictured) live on the islands of Hispaniola and Cuba?
  • a human hand holding a large snail
    a live Tonna galea out of water
    ... that the snail Tonna galea (pictured) is one of very few species of prosobranch gastropods that are luminescent?
  • apical view of a brown shell
    shell of holotype of Notodiscus hookeri heardensis
    ... that the land snail Notodiscus hookeri (shell pictured) has unique shell structure among all gastropods?
  • a snail with a translucent shell
    a live Zospeum tholussum
    ... that the microscopic cave snail Zospeum tholussum (pictured) is so slow that in a week's time it may only move a few millimeters or centimeters in circles?


  • black and white portrait of a man with beard
    Mattheus Marinus Schepman
    ... that Dutch malacologist Mattheus Marinus Schepman (pictured) originally described hundreds of taxa?
  • a crawling land snail with high spire
    live Newcombia cumingi
    ... that the tree snail Newcombia cumingi (pictured) is the only Newcombia species found on the island of Maui?
  • a crawling orange land snail
    live Omalonyx convexus
    ... that the land snail Omalonyx convexus (pictured) can also be found submerged among macrophytes?
  • ... that the malacologist S. Peter Dance said the shell of Pterynotus loebbeckei, (pictured), was the "most exquisite natural object" he had ever seen?


  • black-brown shell
    shell of Faunus ater
    ... that the only brackish-water pachychilid species, Faunus ater (shell pictured), has a shell that is unique among all the Cerithioidea?



  • a limper among seaweed
    a live Lottia gigantea
    ... that the owl limpet (pictured) maintains a small meadow of algal turf for its own exclusive use?
  • left side view of beige snail with a bit darker head and with brown oblong shell
    a live Cecina manchurica
    ... that the pomatiopsid Cecina (Cecina manchurica pictured) lives among decaying seaweeds?


In the news

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2011

  • green slug on green alga
    Elysia clarki on alga
    20 July 2011 - Using the sea slug Elysia clarki (pictured) it was demonstrated (for the first time in an animal) that a photosynthetic capability affects foraging behavior under starvation.

2010

  • 16 July 2010: A new subfamily is established within the Chondrinidae.





  • A list of new Wikipedia articles about gastropods, including those that simply mention the words snail, slug, conch, etc. A bot creates this list, usually every three days.

Selected image

An apertural view of a shell of the small, air-breathing, freshwater snail Physella acuta in the family Physidae. This an example of a sinistral or left-handed shell, which means that if the shell is held with the aperture facing the observer, and the spire pointing up, then the aperture is on the left-hand side. In this genus the aperture is long and large, and the spire is pointed. The shell is thin and corneous, and rather transparent.

The family Physidae and the family Planorbidae are within the superfamily Planorboidea; all the species within these families have shells that are left-handed. In general however, sinistral shell coiling is quite rare among the gastropods.

Lists of gastropods

Major topics

  • Introductory articles
Gastropoda, snail, slug, land snail, freshwater snail, sea snail, sea slug
  • Anatomy of hard parts
Gastropod shell, operculum, radula, love dart, clausilium
  • Anatomy by systems
Digestive system of gastropods, respiratory system of gastropods, circulatory system of gastropods, excretory system of gastropods, sensory organs of gastropods, nervous system of gastropods, reproductive system of gastropods
  • The current taxonomy
Taxonomy of the Gastropoda (Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005), and also, changes in the taxonomy of gastropods since 2005


  • Gastropods with significant positive human impact
As food Ornaments, pearls, etc Research on nerve conduction Source of medicines For other sciences
Conch species
Abalone species
Whelk species
Common periwinkle
Escargot species
and many others
Nacre
Abalone
Trochus
Turbo
Lobatus gigas
Puka shell
Aplysia species
Conus species
Shelled taxa are valuable in archaeological and paleontological studies
  • Gastropods with significant negative human impact
Most invasive on land Most invasive in freshwater Most invasive in saltwater Vectors for diseases
Achatina fulica
Euglandina rosea
Arion vulgaris
Pomacea canaliculata
Potamopyrgus antipodarum
Batillaria attramentaria
Boonea bisuturalis
Ceratostoma inornatum
Crepidula fornicata
Ilyanassa obsoleta
Littorina littorea
Rapana venosa
Urosalpinx cinerea
Biomphalaria glabrata
Oncomelania hupensis
Bulinus truncatus

Subcategories

Categories about gastropods:

Request to editors: please do not create any more categories of gastropods by country. Instead create list articles, article with a list of the marine or non-marine gastropods of whichever country or area you are interested in. We would also like to empty and delete the two remaining country categories we have, adding that information to list articles instead. Thank you.

Things to do

Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

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