Euthyneura is a

taxonomic 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme of classes (a taxonomy) and the allocation ...

infraclass In biology, taxonomic rank (which some authors prefer to call nomenclatural rank because ranking is part of nomenclature rather than taxonomy proper, according to some definitions of these terms) is the relative or absolute level of a group of or ...

snail A snail is a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gas ...

s and

slugs Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word ''slug'' is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced shell, or only a sma ...

, which includes species exclusively from marine,

aquatic Aquatic means relating to water; living in or near water or taking place in water; does not include groundwater, as "aquatic" implies an environment where plants and animals live. Aquatic(s) may also refer to: * Aquatic animal, either vertebrate ...

and

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth, as opposed to extraterrestrial. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on o ...

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

mollusk Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The ...

s in the clade

Heterobranchia Heterobranchia, the heterobranchs (meaning "different gill"), is a taxonomic clade of snails and slugs, which includes marine, aquatic, and terrestrial gastropod molluscs. Heterobranchia is one of the main clades of gastropods. Currently Het ...

. Euthyneura are characterised by several

autapomorphies In phylogenetics, an autapomorphy is a distinctive feature, known as a derived trait, that is unique to a given taxon. That is, it is found only in one taxon, but not found in any others or outgroup taxa, not even those most closely related to ...

, but are named for euthyneury. They are considered to be the most successful and diverse group of Gastropoda. Within this taxon, the Gastropoda have reached their peak in

species richness Species richness is the number of different species represented in an community (ecology), ecological community, landscape or region. Species richness is simply a count of species, and it does not take into account the Abundance (ecology), abunda ...

and ecological diversity. This obvious evolutionary success can probably be attributed to several factors. Marine Opisthobranchia, e.g., have evolved several clades specialised on less used food resources such as sponges or cnidarians. A key innovation in the evolution of Pulmonata was the colonization of freshwater and terrestrial habitats.Klussmann-Kolb A., Dinapoli A., Kuhn K., Streit B. & Albrecht C. (2008). "From sea to land and beyond – New insights into the evolution of euthyneuran Gastropoda (Mollusca)". ''

BMC Evolutionary Biology ''BMC Ecology and Evolution'' (since January 2021), previously ''BMC Evolutionary Biology'' (2001–2020), is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal covering all fields of evolutionary biology, including phylogenetics and palaeontology ...

'' 2008, 8: 57. . Various phylogenetic studies focused on Euthyneura: Dayrat et al. (2001), Dayrat & Tillier (2002) and Grande ''et al.'' (2004). Morphological analyses by Dayrat and Tillier (2002)Dayrat B. & Tillier S. (2002). "Evolutionary relationships of euthyneuran gastropods (Mollusca): a cladistic re-evaluation of morphological characters". ''

Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society The ''Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering zoology published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Linnean Society. The editor-in-chief is Maarten Christenhusz (Linnean Society) ...

'' 135(4): 403-470. demonstrated the need to explore new datasets in order to critically analyse the phylogeny of this controversial group of gastropods. Klussmann-Kolb ''et al.'' (2008) traced an evolutionary scenario regarding colonisation of different habitats based on phylogenetic hypothesis and they showed that traditional classification of Euthyneura needs to be reconsidered.

2010 taxonomy

Jörger ''et al.'' (2010)Jörger K. M., Stöger I., Kano Y., Fukuda H., Knebelsberger T. & Schrödl M. (2010). "On the origin of Acochlidia and other enigmatic euthyneuran gastropods, with implications for the systematics of Heterobranchia". ''

'' 10: 323. . have redefined major groups within the Heterobranchia and a

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not s ...

showing phylogenic relations of Euthyneura is as follows:

2014 taxonomy

Cladogram A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not s ...

showing phylogenic relations of Euthyneura ''sensu'' Wägele et al. (2014):Wägele H., Klussmann-Kolb A., Verbeek E. & Schrödl M. (2014). "Flashback and foreshadowing—a review of the taxon Opisthobranchia". ''

Organisms Diversity & Evolution ''Organisms Diversity & Evolution'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering various aspects of biodiversity and evolution of organisms. It is published by Springer Science+Business Media on behalf of the Gesellschaft für Biologi ...

'' 14(1): 133–149.

2016 taxonomy

Kano et al. (2016) proposed a new taxon

Ringipleura Euthyneura is a taxonomic infraclass of snails and slugs, which includes species exclusively from marine, aquatic and terrestrial gastropod mollusks in the clade Heterobranchia. Euthyneura are characterised by several autapomorphies, but are n ...

and classified

Ringiculoidea Ringiculidae are a family of small deep water sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks or micromollusks in the informal group Lower Heterobranchia.Bouchet P. & Rocroi J.-P. (Ed.); Frýda J., Hausdorf B., Ponder W., Valdes A. & Warén A. 2005. ''Cla ...

as sister group to

Nudipleura Nudipleura are a clade of sea snails and sea slugs, marine gastropod mollusks within the large clade Heterobranchia. Taxonomy 2005 taxonomy In the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005), the clade Nudipleura is arranged as follows: *Clade N ...

References

This article incorporates CC-BY-2.0 text from the reference {{Taxonbar, from=Q5361179 Protostome unranked clades