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Pleuroceridae
Pleuroceridae, common name pleurocerids, is a family of small to medium-sized freshwater snails, aquatic gilled gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Cerithioidea.
(Original description) This animal is fluviatile and similar to those found in the family Thiaridae; however, it is oviparous and possesses a mantle that is not fringed. According to William Stimpson, these organisms lack copulatory organs. The central tooth of the radula is short, wide, and arched at the base, featuring a multi-cuspidate edge. The lateral tooth is rhomboidal with a very well-developed primary cusp, while the marginal teeth are narrow and pectinated at their extremities. Additionally, the jaws are polygonal and scaly.
The shell is either melaniform or cerithiform in shape. The aperture may be entire, sinuous, or canaliculated, and the outer lip is sharp. The operculum is thin and paucispiral, with an anterior and submarginal nucleus.
The mollusks belonging to this family have a geographic distribution that is limited to North America. Of the 464 species described by Tryon in his 1875 monograph, approximately half originate from Tennessee and Alabama. These shells are so abundant that they literally cover the surface of the rocky riverbeds, sometimes leaving barely an inch of free space. Their summits are generally eroded.
Stimpson did not find any valid differences between the animals of the genera Io, Ancylotus (synonym of Leptoxis Rafinesque, 1819), and Goniobasis (synonym of Elimia H. Adams & A. Adams, 1854). However, the primary cusp of the lateral tooth in Ancylotus is very wide and obtuse, whereas it is acuminate in the genera Goniobasis, Io, and Gyrotoma.
These snails have an operculum and typically a robust high-spired shell.
Reproduction is iteroparous, and juvenile snails emerge from eggs laid on a firm surface by a gonochoristic female. There is no veliger stage.
There is very high level of mitochondrial heterogeneity in apparent species of Pleuroceridae (highest among gastropods, also with Semisulcospiridae), that has not been sufficiently explained yet as of 2015. However, it has been suggested that this may be due to pleurocerids having very poor dispersal abilities, allowing even slightly separated populations to see great genetic divergence.
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Pleuroceridae
Pleuroceridae, common name pleurocerids, is a family of small to medium-sized freshwater snails, aquatic gilled gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Cerithioidea.
(Original description) This animal is fluviatile and similar to those found in the family Thiaridae; however, it is oviparous and possesses a mantle that is not fringed. According to William Stimpson, these organisms lack copulatory organs. The central tooth of the radula is short, wide, and arched at the base, featuring a multi-cuspidate edge. The lateral tooth is rhomboidal with a very well-developed primary cusp, while the marginal teeth are narrow and pectinated at their extremities. Additionally, the jaws are polygonal and scaly.
The shell is either melaniform or cerithiform in shape. The aperture may be entire, sinuous, or canaliculated, and the outer lip is sharp. The operculum is thin and paucispiral, with an anterior and submarginal nucleus.
The mollusks belonging to this family have a geographic distribution that is limited to North America. Of the 464 species described by Tryon in his 1875 monograph, approximately half originate from Tennessee and Alabama. These shells are so abundant that they literally cover the surface of the rocky riverbeds, sometimes leaving barely an inch of free space. Their summits are generally eroded.
Stimpson did not find any valid differences between the animals of the genera Io, Ancylotus (synonym of Leptoxis Rafinesque, 1819), and Goniobasis (synonym of Elimia H. Adams & A. Adams, 1854). However, the primary cusp of the lateral tooth in Ancylotus is very wide and obtuse, whereas it is acuminate in the genera Goniobasis, Io, and Gyrotoma.
These snails have an operculum and typically a robust high-spired shell.
Reproduction is iteroparous, and juvenile snails emerge from eggs laid on a firm surface by a gonochoristic female. There is no veliger stage.
There is very high level of mitochondrial heterogeneity in apparent species of Pleuroceridae (highest among gastropods, also with Semisulcospiridae), that has not been sufficiently explained yet as of 2015. However, it has been suggested that this may be due to pleurocerids having very poor dispersal abilities, allowing even slightly separated populations to see great genetic divergence.