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

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

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 molluscs, terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have gastropod shell, shel ...

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

Cyclophoroidea Cyclophoroidea is a superfamily of land snails with an operculum, terrestrial gastropods within the order Architaenioglossa, that belongs to the subclass Caenogastropoda.Bouchet, P.; Rosenberg, G.; Gofas, S. (2015). Cyclophoroidea Gray, 1847. ...

.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 only 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 foun ...

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina and the Indochinese Peninsula) 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 th ...

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

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

pupa A pupa (; : 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 life cycle, the stages th ...

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 Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

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 ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Pupinidae 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, p ...

malacologist Malacology, from Ancient Greek μαλακός (''malakós''), meaning "soft", and λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca (molluscs or mollusks), the second-largest ...

Augustus Addison Gould Augustus Addison Gould (April 23, 1805 – September 15, 1866) was an American naturalist and the foremost conchologist of his era. He described over 1,100 new species of mollusks, including all known mollusks of Massachusetts and the shells co ...

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 (; Perak Malay: ''Peghok'') is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, 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, Kel ...

Peninsular Malaysia Peninsular Malaysia, historically known as Malaya and also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, is the western part of Malaysia that comprises the southern part of the Malay Peninsula on Mainland Southeast Asia and the list of isla ...

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

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

, including

Mawlamyine Mawlamyine (also spelled Mawlamyaing; , ; ; , ), formerly Moulmein, is the fourth-largest city in Myanmar (Burma), ''World Gazetteer'' southeast of Yangon and south of Thaton, at the mouth of Thanlwin (Salween) River. Mawlamyine was an ancient ...

Dawei Dawei (, ; , ; , 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 eastern bank of the Dawei River. The city is about ...

and

Tanintharyi Tanintharyi may refer to: * Tanintharyi (town) or Taninthayi (known during the British occupation as Tenasserim), a town in Tanintharyi Township, Myeik District, in the Tanintharyi Region of Burma (Myanmar) * Tanintharyi Region, formerly Tenasseri ...

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

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

, and some areas of

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

:*'' 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, including both the ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

)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 and obtained its current title in 2008. The journal was established in 1898 and is publ ...

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

Vientiane Vientiane (, ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Laos. Situated on the banks of the Mekong, Mekong River at the Thailand, Thai border, it comprises the five urban districts of Vientiane Prefecture and had a population of 840,000 ...

Luang Prabang Luang Prabang (Lao language, Lao: wikt:ຫຼວງພະບາງ, ຫຼວງພະບາງ, pronounced ), historically known as Xieng Thong (ຊຽງທອງ) and alternatively spelled Luang Phabang or Louangphabang, is the capital of Lu ...

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

. 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 certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is ...

(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 are forested ecoregions with tropical climates – that is, land areas approximately bounded by the Tropic of Cancer, tropics of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, Capricorn, but possibly affected by other factors such as prevailing ...

s in

. They are present in

, and

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

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

outcroppings.

Ecology

Like other pupinids, elephant pupinid snails are important

decomposer Decomposers are organisms that break down dead organisms and release the nutrients from the dead matter into the environment around them. Decomposition relies on chemical processes similar to digestion in animals; in fact, many sources use the word ...

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