''Omalonyx'' 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 ...

of air-breathing

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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

s in 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 ...

Succineidae Succineidae are a family of small to medium-sized, air-breathing land snails (and slug Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less Terrestrial mollusc, terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word ''slug'' is also often ...

, the amber snails. These snails are amphibious, living very close to water and moving around both on

emergent plant Aquatic plants, also referred to as hydrophytes, are vascular plants and non-vascular plants that have adapted to live in aquatic environments ( saltwater or freshwater). In lakes, rivers and wetlands, aquatic vegetations provide cover for aqua ...

s and also on submerged aquatic plants.

Distribution

Species of the genus ''Omalonyx'' occur in the Caribbean Islands, and they are also amply distributed throughout South America.

Species

Species within the genus ''Omalonyx'' include: * '' Omalonyx brasiliensis'' (Simroth, 1896) * '' Omalonyx convexus'' (Heynemann, 1868) * '' Omalonyx matheronii'' (Potiez & Michaud, 1835) or '' Omalonyx matheroni'' (Potiez & Michaud, 1838)Robinson D. G., Hovestadt A., Fields A. & Breure A. S. H. (2009). "The land Mollusca of Dominica (Lesser Antilles), with notes on some enigmatic or rare species". ''

Zoologische Mededelingen ''Zoologische Mededelingen'' was a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal publishing papers and monographs on animal systematics. The publisher was the National Museum of Natural History Naturalis in the Netherlands. The first issue appeared ...

'' 83 http://www.zoologischemededelingen.nl/83/nr03/a13 * '' Omalonyx pattersonae'' Tillier, 1981 * '' Omalonyx unguis'' (d'Orbigny, 1837) * '' Omalonyx geayi'' Tillier, 1980

Description

''Omalonyx'' includes slugs with a reduced, flat and fingernail-like

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 ...

and a pattern of yellow coloring with two black longitudinal stripes and blackish stains throughout the entire body, including the mantle. The mantle covers the visceral mass and the edge of the shell. Various authors reported various extensions of the mantle: the mantle covers the shell in different extents. The coloring was used to describe and characterize ''Omalonyx'' species, but Arruda & Thomé (2011) reported wide variability in color of ''Omalonyx convexus''.

Ecology

The species of ''Omalonyx'' are reported on

macrophyte Aquatic plants, also referred to as hydrophytes, are vascular plants and non-vascular plants that have adapted to live in aquatic environments ( saltwater or freshwater). In lakes, rivers and wetlands, aquatic vegetations provide cover for aquat ...

s or emergent vegetation in the banks of

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

s, river

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

s, and

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

s. '' Omalonyx convexus'' lives in both clean and polluted freshwater environments, as well as on natural and artificial substrates. These snails are

herbivorous A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet. These more broadly also encompass animals that eat n ...

, feeding on living plant tissues. Non-vegetal food items were also found in ''Omalonyx convexus''.

References

This article incorporates CC-BY-3.0 text from the referenceArruda J. O. & Thomé J. W. (2011). "Biological aspects of ''Omalonyx convexus'' (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Succineidae) from the Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil". '' Revista Biotemas'' 24(4): 95-101. doi:10.5007/2175-7925.2011v24n4p95 {{Taxonbar, from=Q7089513 Succineidae