''Pollicaria'', commonly known as the elephant pupinid snails, is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

land snail A land snail is any of the numerous species of snail that live on land, as opposed to the sea snails and freshwater snails. ''Land snail'' is the common name for terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have shells (those without shells are known as ...

s with a gill and an operculum. They are in the family

Pupinidae Pupinidae is a taxonomic family of land snails with an operculum, terrestrial gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Cyclophoroidea (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005).MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase ...

, superfamily

Cyclophoroidea Cyclophoroidea is a superfamily of land snails with an operculum, terrestrial gastropods within the informal group Architaenioglossa, that belongs to the clade Caenogastropoda.Bouchet, P.; Rosenberg, G.; Gofas, S. (2015). Cyclophoroidea Gray, ...

.MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Pollicaria A. A. Gould, 1856. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=990921 on 2022-02-05 This genus of land snails is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

. Like other pupinid snails, the shells of these snails are shaped like

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

pupa A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...

e. The shells are however characteristically large, up to , in contrast to other pupinids, many of which are considerably smaller. The soft parts of species in this genus are yellowish to pale orange in color, and their

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 ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard ou ...

s can range in color from black or yellowish to bright orange. These snails feed on decaying organic matter on forest floors.

Taxonomy

''Pollicaria'' belongs to the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

of the

superfamily SUPERFAMILY is a database and search platform of structural and functional annotation for all proteins and genomes. It classifies amino acid sequences into known structural domains, especially into SCOP superfamilies. Domains are functional, str ...

. The genus was first established by the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

malacologist Malacology is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca (mollusks or molluscs), the second-largest phylum of animals in terms of described species after the arthropods. Mollusks include snails and slugs, clams, ...

Augustus Addison Gould Augustus Addison Gould (April 23, 1805 – September 15, 1866) was an American conchologist and malacologist. Biography Born in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, he was the son of music teacher Nathaniel Duren Gould (1781–1864) who was also noted ...

in 1856, to contain his newly described ''Cyclostoma pollex'' (now accepted as '' Pollicaria gravida'').

Species

The genus ''Pollicaria'' contains six species: * '' Pollicaria arlingi'' Thach, 2018 *'' Pollicaria elephas'' (Morgan, 1885) - endemic to limestone outcrops in

Perak Perak () is a state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kelantan and Pahang to the east, and Selangor to the south. Thailand's ...

Peninsular Malaysia Peninsular Malaysia ( ms, Semenanjung Malaysia; Jawi: سمننجڠ مليسيا), or the States of Malaya ( ms, Negeri-negeri Tanah Melayu; Jawi: نڬري-نڬري تانه ملايو), also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, ...

*'' Pollicaria gravida'' (Benson, 1856) - endemic to

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, including

Mawlamyine Mawlamyine (also spelled Mawlamyaing; , ; th, เมาะลำเลิง ; mnw, မတ်မလီု, ), formerly Moulmein, is the fourth-largest city in Myanmar (Burma), ''World Gazetteer'' south east of Yangon and south of Thaton, at th ...

Dawei Dawei (, ; mnw, ဓဝဲါ, ; th, ทวาย, RTGS: ''Thawai'', ; formerly known as Tavoy) is a city in south-eastern Myanmar and is the capital of the Tanintharyi Region, formerly known as the Tenasserim Division, on the northern bank of ...

and

Tanintharyi Tanintharyi or Taninthayi (widely known during the British occupation and since as Tenasserim) is a small town in Taninthayi Township, Myeik District, in the Tanintharyi Region of south-western Myanmar. It is the administrative seat for the town ...

*'' Pollicaria mouhoti'' (Pfeifer, 1862) :*'' Pollicaria mouhoti mouhoti'' (Pfeifer, 1862) - found in

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

, and some areas of

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

:*'' Pollicaria mouhoti monochroma'' Kongim & Panha, 2013 - found in

*'' Pollicaria myersii'' (Haines, 1855) - synonym: ''Pollicaria rochebruni'' (Mabille, 1887) (endemic to

Tonkin Tonkin, also spelled ''Tongkin'', ''Tonquin'' or ''Tongking'', is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain ''Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, includi ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

)Minton, R. L., Harris, P. M., & North, E. (2017). "Diversity and taxonomy of Vietnamese ''Pollicaria'' (Gastropoda, Pupinidae)". ''

Zoosystematics and Evolution ''Zoosystematics and Evolution'' is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal covering zoological systematics and evolution. It was established in 1898 as ''Mitteilungen aus der Zoologischen Sammlung des Museums für Naturkunde in Berlin'' () ...

'' 93: 95-104. - restricted to limestone areas in

Vientiane Vientiane ( , ; lo, ວຽງຈັນ, ''Viangchan'', ) is the capital and largest city of Laos. Vientiane is divided administratively into 9 cities with a total area of only approx. 3,920 square kilometres and is located on the banks of ...

Luang Prabang Luang Phabang, ( Lao: ຫລວງພະບາງ/ ຫຼວງພະບາງ) or ''Louangphabang'' (pronounced ), commonly transliterated into Western languages from the pre-1975 Lao spelling ຫຼວງພຣະບາງ (ຣ = silent r) ...

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

. Probably also found in northern

* '' Pollicaria nicoarlingi'' Thach, 2021 * '' Pollicaria rochebruni'' (Mabille, 1887) ;Synonyms: *''Pollicaria crossei'' (Dautzenberg & ďHamonville, 1887) - endemic to

: synonym of '' Pollicaria rochebruni'' (Mabille, 1887) * ''Pollicaria myersi'' (Haines, 1855): synonym of ''Pollicaria myersii'' (Haines, 1855) (incorrect subsequent spelling)

Description

Elephant pupinid snails have distinctively shaped shells that resemble

e. The

is thick and solid, ranging in height from . The shells possess a shallow angled groove at the rear which functions as a breathing device. They range in color from monochrome black or yellowish to bright orange The body is yellowish to pale orange. Patches of dark-brown to black spots may be found scattered on the head and on the upper surfaces of the muscular foot. The head contains darker orange

tentacle In zoology, a tentacle is a flexible, mobile, and elongated organ present in some species of animals, most of them invertebrates. In animal anatomy, tentacles usually occur in one or more pairs. Anatomically, the tentacles of animals work main ...

s with dark eye spots on the outer base. The foot is broad and short. The operculum is attached to the rear top part of the foot. Elephant pupinid snails are

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...

(having separate male and female sexes). Males have a cone-shaped external penis on the right side of their body which will broaden and enlarge during mating season. Females also have a genital groove on the right side of their body.

Distribution and habitat

Elephant pupinid snails are

tropical forest Tropical forests (a.k.a. jungle) are forested landscapes in tropical regions: ''i.e.'' land areas approximately bounded by the tropic of Cancer and Capricorn, but possibly affected by other factors such as prevailing winds. Some tropical fores ...

s in

. They are present in

, and

. They are commonly found in abundant numbers under the leaf litter of forests near

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

outcroppings.

Ecology

Like other pupinids, elephant pupinid snails are important

decomposer Decomposers are organisms that break down dead or decaying organisms; they carry out decomposition, a process possible by only certain kingdoms, such as fungi. Like herbivores and predators, decomposers are heterotrophic, meaning that they use o ...

s, feeding on decaying organic matter under leaf litter on the forest floor.

References

External links

Benson, W. H. (1859). Observation of shell and animal of Hybocystis, a new genus of Cyclostomidae, based on Megalostoma gravidum and Otopoma blennus, B.; with notes on other living shells from India and Burmah. Annals and Magazine of Natural History. (3) 4: 90–93

Kobelt W. (1902). Das Tierreich. Eine Zusammenstellung und Kennzeichnung der rezenten Tierformen. 16. Lieferung. Mollusca. Cyclophoridae. Das Tierreich. XXXIX + 662 pp., 1 map.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q20720339 Pollicaria