Patera (gastropod)

Patera

shell of Patera perigraptus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
(unranked):	clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura clade Panpulmonata clade Eupulmonata clade Stylommatophora informal group Sigmurethra
Superfamily:	Helicoidea
Family:	Polygyridae
Genus:	Patera Albers, 1850^[1]

Patera is a genus (or subgenus under Mesodon) of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Polygyridae.

The name is from the Latin patera, meaning a saucer, and refers to the highly depressed, saucer-like shape of the shells of these snails. In addition to flattened shells, members of the group have an imperforate umbilicus, and a single tooth, on the parietal wall of the aperture.^[2]

These snails are known only from the eastern United States.^[3]

Species

Species within the genus Patera include:

Patera appressus
Patera clarki
- Patera clarki clarki
- Patera clarki nantahala - noonday globe
Patera jonesianus
Patera panselenus - Virginia bladetooth snail
Patera perigraptus
Patera sargentianus
Patera subpalliatus
Patera wetherbyi

References

^ (German) Albers J. C. (1850). Die Heliceen nach natürlicher Verwandtschaft systematisch geordnet. Berlin, 1-262 pp.
^ Pilsbry H. A. (1940). "Land Mollusca of North America (North of Mexico)". Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Monograph 3, 1(2): 748.
^ Pilsbry H. A. (1940). "Land Mollusca of North America (North of Mexico)". Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Monograph 3, 1(2): 747-761.