''Valvatidae'', the valve snails, is a
taxonomic family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
of very small
freshwater snail
Freshwater snails are gastropod mollusks which live in fresh water. There are many different families. They are found throughout the world in various habitats, ranging from ephemeral pools to the largest lakes, and from small seeps and springs ...
s with an
operculum,
aquatic gastropod
The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda ().
This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...
mollusk
Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...
s.
Taxonomy
The family Valvatidae has no subfamilies (according to the
taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005).
Genera
The
type genus
In biological taxonomy, the type genus is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name.
Zoological nomenclature
According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearing type of a nominal ...
of this family is ''Valvata''
O.F. Müller, 1774.
Genera in the family Valvatidae include:
* ''
Andrussovia'' Brusina, 1903
* ''
Borysthenia
''Borysthenia'' is a genus of small freshwater snails with an operculum, aquatic gastropod mollusks in the family Valvatidae, the valve snails.
The aperture of ''Borysthenia'' is not circular. '' Lindholm, 1933
* ''
Costovalvata'' Polinski, 1932
* ''
Liratina'' Lindholm, 1906
* ''
Megalovalvata'' Lindholm, 1906
* ''
Valvata'' Müller, 1774
** ''
Cincinna'' Hübner, 1810 - It is recognized either as genus
[ Anistratenko O., Degtyarenko E., Anistratenko V. (2010). "Сравнительная морфология раковины и радулы брюхоногих моллюсков семейства Valvatidae из Северного Причерноморья. hell and radula comparative morphology of the Gastropod Molluscs family Valvatidae from the North Black Sea coast. ''Ruthenica'' 20(2): 91-101]
PDF
/ref> of a subgenus of ''Valvata''.
Ecology
Snails in the family Valvatidae are useful for measuring water quality
Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tr ...
as biological indicator
A bioindicator is any species (an indicator species) or group of species whose function, population, or status can reveal the qualitative status of the environment. The most common indicator species are animals. For example, copepods and other sma ...
s. According to the Biological monitoring working party
The biological monitoring working party (BMWP) is a procedure for measuring water quality using families of macroinvertebrates as biological indicators.
The method is based on the principle that different aquatic invertebrates have different tol ...
they have a score of 3, which means that they have quite a high tolerance to pollutant
A pollutant or novel entity is a substance or energy introduced into the environment that has undesired effects, or adversely affects the usefulness of a resource. These can be both naturally forming (i.e. minerals or extracted compounds like o ...
s.
References
Haszprunar G (2014) A nomenclator of extant and fossil taxa of the Valvatidae (Gastropoda, Ectobranchia). ZooKeys 377: 1-172. https://www.pensoft.net/J_FILES/1/articles/6032/6032-G-3-layout.pdf
Further reading
* Hannibal H. (1910). ''Valvatidae of the Western North America''. The Nautilus
page 104
107.
External links
Taxa named by John Edward Gray
{{Valvatidae-stub