Melanopsidae, common name melanopsids, is a family of freshwater gastropods in the clade Sorbeoconcha.[8] Species in this family are native to southern and eastern Europe, northern Africa, parts of the Middle East, New Zealand, and freshwater streams of some large South Pacific islands.[9]
| Melanopsidae Temporal range: [1] | |
|---|---|
 | |
| A live Melanopsis praemorsa | |
 | |
| A live Esperiana daudebartii thermalis | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Subclass: | Caenogastropoda |
| Superfamily: | Cerithioidea |
| Family: | Melanopsidae H. Adams & A. Adams, 1854[2] |
| Diversity[4] | |
| about 25-50 extant freshwater species, several hundreds of fossil species and subspecies[3] | |
| Synonyms | |
Stomatopsinae Stache, 1889[5] | |
These snails first appeared in the Late Cretaceous and are closely related to Potamididae. As well as unidirectional evolutionary change from one species to the next over time, the process of hybridization plays a major role in the appearance of new Melanopsidae species.[1]
According to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi (2005) the family Melanopsidae has no subfamilies.[8]
Genera
Genera in the family Melanopsidae include:
- Esperiana Bourguignat, 1877[10] - synonym: Fagotia Bourguignat, 1884[8][11][12]
- Holandriana Bourguignat, 1884[10] - synonym: Amphimelania P. Fischer, 1885[8][11][13]
- † Megalonoda Kollmann, 1984[16]
- Melanopsis Férussac, 1807 - type genus of the family Melanopsidae[8][11][10]
- Microcolpia Bourguignat, 1884[17]
- † Pseudobellardia Cox, 1931[11]
- † Pseudofagotia Anistratenko, 1993[18]
- † Stomatopsis Stache, 1871[8][11]
- † Stilospirula Rovereto, 1899 - synonyms: Stylospirula Rovereto, 1899[11][19]
- † Turripontica Anistratenko, 1993[20]
- Zemelanopsis Finlay, 1927[21]
- Zemelanopsis trifasciata (Gray, 1843)[21]
References
Further reading
- (in German) Glaubrecht M. (1996). Evolutionsökologie und Systematik am Beispiel von Süß- und Brackwasserschnecken (Mollusca: Caenogastropoda: Cerithioidea): Ontogenese-Strategien, Paläontologische Befunde und Zoogeographie. Backhuys, Leiden.
External links
