''Galba neotropica'' is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of air-breathing

freshwater snail Freshwater snails are gastropod mollusks that 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 t ...

, an

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 ...

pulmonate Pulmonata or pulmonates is an informal group (previously an order, and before that, a subclass) of snails and slugs characterized by the ability to breathe air, by virtue of having a pallial lung instead of a gill, or gills. The group inclu ...

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 ...

in the family Lymnaeidae, the pond snails. This species was described as ''Lymnaea neotropica'' in 2007. However, it belongs to the ''

Galba Galba ( ; born Servius Sulpicius Galba; 24 December 3 BC – 15 January AD 69) was Roman emperor, ruling for 7 months from 8 June AD 68 to 15 January 69. He was the first emperor in the Year of the Four Emperors and assumed the throne follow ...

'' genus, therefore this species is named ''Galba neotropica''. cf.. ''Galba neotropica'' is the vector typically responsible for

fascioliasis Fasciolosis is a parasitic worm infection caused by the common liver fluke ''Fasciola hepatica'' as well as by '' Fasciola gigantica''. The disease is a plant-borne trematode zoonosis, and is classified as a neglected tropical disease (NTD). I ...

(liver fluke) livestock infection.

Distribution

''Galba neotropica'' was originally described from

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

and surroundings; it appears to be a species restricted to South America, but with a very broad geographical distribution from

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

in the

Southern Cone The Southern Cone (, ) is a geographical and cultural subregion composed of the southernmost areas of South America, mostly south of the Tropic of Capricorn. Traditionally, it covers Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, bounded on the west by the Pac ...

north to

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. The distribution of this species includes: *

. *

Description

The maximum length of the

shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

of this species is 10.36 mm.

Whorls A whorl ( or ) is an individual circle, oval, volution or equivalent in a whorled pattern, which consists of a spiral or multiple concentric objects (including circles, ovals and arcs). In nature File:Photograph and axial plane floral diagram ...

are convex. The

columella Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (, Arabic: ) was a prominent Roman writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire. His in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture and ancient Roman cuisin ...

is slightly curved and unfolded. An examination of tentacles, eyes and colour in living specimens has never been performed. In the

radula The radula (; : radulae or radulas) is an anatomical structure used by mollusks for feeding, sometimes compared to a tongue. It is a minutely toothed, chitinous ribbon, which is typically used for scraping or cutting food before the food enters ...

, the first bilateral teeth are bicuspid but occasionally they are tricuspid or rarely quadricuspid. The praeputium/penis sheath length ratio is 1.10–3.90 mm (mean 2.12–2.70 mm). Two species that have a similar morphology are ''

Galba truncatula ''Galba truncatula'' (previously: ''Lymnaea truncatula'') is a species of air-breathing freshwater snail, an aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Lymnaeidae, the pond snails.Neubauer, Thomas A. (2014). Galba (Galba) truncatula (Mül ...

'' and ''

Galba schirazensis ''Galba schirazensis'' is a species of air-breathing freshwater snail, an aquatic animal, aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Lymnaeidae, the pond snails. Taxonomy This species was originally described by German malacologist Hein ...

''. Although several phenotypic characteristics are somewhat helpful for a preliminary specimen classification, a definitive classification of a specimen can only be obtained by the

sequencing In genetics and biochemistry, sequencing means to determine the primary structure (sometimes incorrectly called the primary sequence) of an unbranched biopolymer. Sequencing results in a symbolic linear depiction known as a sequence which succ ...

of at least one of the

molecular marker In molecular biology and other fields, a molecular marker is a molecule, sampled from some source, that gives information about its source. For example, DNA is a molecular marker that gives information about the organism from which it was taken. ...

s used:

ITS-2 Internal transcribed spacer (ITS) is the spacer DNA situated between the small-subunit ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and large-subunit rRNA genes in the chromosome or the corresponding transcribed region in the polycistronic rRNA precursor transcript. ...

ITS-1 Internal transcribed spacer (ITS) is the spacer DNA situated between the small-subunit ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and large-subunit Ribosomal DNA, rRNA genes in the chromosome or the corresponding Transcription (genetics), transcribed region in the polyc ...

, 16S and

cox1 Cytochrome c oxidase I (COX1) also known as mitochondrially encoded cytochrome c oxidase I (MT-CO1) is a protein that is encoded by the ''MT-CO1'' gene in eukaryotes. The gene is also called ''COX1'', ''CO1'', or ''COI''. Cytochrome c oxidase ...

Ecology

''Galba neotropica'' is sometimes amphibious. The habitat of ''Galba neotropica'' rarely also includes artificial water bodies. These snails hatch from eggs. The shape of the egg cluster is rounded to an oval when containing few eggs; when the clutch includes more eggs, it lengthens with a slight curving trend. There are about 4–16 eggs in each cluster. Parasites of ''Galba neotropica'' include: * ''

Fasciola hepatica ''Fasciola hepatica'', also known as the common liver fluke or sheep liver fluke, is a parasitism, parasitic trematode (fluke (flatworm), fluke or flatworm, a type of helminth) of the class (biology), class Trematoda, phylum Platyhelminthes. It ...

''. The transmission capacity of ''Fasciola hepatica'' to humans is low, however, the transmission capacity of ''Fasciola hepatica'' to animals is high.

References

This article incorporates CC-BY-2.0 text from the reference
table 2
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5518176 Lymnaeidae Gastropods described in 2007