Aplexa
| Aplexa | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Shells of Aplexa hypnorum | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| (unranked): | clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura clade Panpulmonata clade Hygrophila |
| Superfamily: | Planorboidea |
| Family: | Physidae |
| Subfamily: | Aplexinae |
| Tribe: | Aplexini |
| Genus: | Aplexa Fleming, 1820[1] |
Aplexa is a genus of small, left-handed or sinistral, air-breathing freshwater snails, aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Physidae.
Shell description
These small snails are quite distinctive, because they have shells that are sinistral, which means that if you hold the shell such that the spire is pointing up, then the aperture is on the left-hand side.
The shells of Aplexa species have a long and large aperture, a relatively high and pointed spire, and no operculum. The shells are thin and corneous and rather transparent.
Species
Species in the genus Aplexa include:
- Aplexa hypnorum Linnaeus, 1758 - type species
- Aplexa elongata (Say, 1821) - the lance aplexa
- Aplexa rivalis (Maton & Rackett, 1807)
References
- ↑ Fleming J. (1830). Mollusca. pp. 598-635, in: Brewster D. The Edinburgh Encyclopædia. In eighteen volumes. Volume XIV [= 14] [MED-MUS]. pp. [1], 1-748, Pl. CCCLXXII-CCCC [= 372-400]. Edinburgh. (Blackwood).
Further reading
- "Genus summary for Aplexa". AnimalBase.
- Janus, Horst, 1965. ‘’The young specialist looks at land and freshwater molluscs’’, Burke, London