Zonites

Zonites
Shell of Zonites graecus Kobelt, 1876
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Stylommatophora
Infraorder: Limacoidei
Superfamily: Zonitoidea
Family: Zonitidae
Genus: Zonites
Montfort, 1810[1]
Synonyms
  • Helix (Zonites) Montfort, 1810 (considered a separate genus)
  • Tonites auct. (incorrect subsequent spelling)
  • Tragomma Held, 1838 junior objective synonym (junior objective synonym of Zonites, with the same type species)
  • Verticillus Moquin-Tandon, 1848
  • Zonites (Aegophthalmus) P. Hesse, 1910
  • (Zonites) Montfort, 1810 · (no subgenera are recognized)

Zonites is a genus of mostly small, air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Zonitidae.[2]

The genus Zonites, which includes 26 extant species, is distributed in the northeastern Mediterranean area and exhibits significant diversity and endemism.

Description

The shell of species in this genus is more or less transparent, subdepressed and contains an umbilicus. The aperture is semilunar and usually lacks teeth. The outer lip is thin and sharp.

The animal is elongate and is able to retract completely within its shell. It has a more or less developed caudal mucous pit. The mantle lobes are small and not reflected on to the shell. The genital orifice is somewhat distant from the right tentacle. The jaw is marked by a median rostrum. The lateral teeth of the radula are bicuspidate, while the marginal teeth are sharp and narrowly unicuspidate.[3]

Species

Species within the genus Zonites include:[4]

In the course of time many species have been included in the genus Zonites that have become taxa inquirenda or synonyms that now belong to different other genera.

References

  1. ^ Montfort D. de (1810). Conchyliologie systématique, et classification méthodique des coquilles; offrant leurs figures, leur arrangement générique, leurs descriptions caractéristiques, leurs noms; ainsi que leur synonymie en plusieurs langues. Ouvrage destiné à faciliter l'étude des coquilles, ainsi que leur disposition dans les cabinets d'histoire naturelle. Coquilles univalves, non cloisonnées. Tome second. pp. [1-3], 1-676. Paris.
  2. ^ Zonites, with the same type species
  3. ^ Tryon G. W. (1886) Manual of Conchology Second series: Pulmonata. volume II. Zonitidae.
  4. ^ "Species in genus Zonites". AnimalBase, accessed 22 June 2010.
  5. ^ a b c Fontaine B., Bouchet P., Van Achterberg K., Alonso-Zarazaga M. A., Araujo R. et al. (2007). "The European union’s 2010 target: Putting rare species in focus." Biological Conservation 139: 167-185. Table 2 on the page 173. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2007.06.012. PDF.
  • Bank, R. A. (2017). Classification of the Recent terrestrial Gastropoda of the World. Last update: July 16, 2017