''Oreohelix'' 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 ...

, a

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 ...

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

Oreohelicidae Oreohelicidae is a family of small to medium-sized air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Punctoidea (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005). Anatomy In this famil ...

. ''Oreohelix'' is the

type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus (''genus typica'') is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearin ...

for the family Oreohelicidae. There are about 79 species in this genus. They are native to the western United States, especially the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

Great Basin The Great Basin () is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets to the ocean, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja Californi ...

, and

Southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...

Species

Species within the genus ''Oreohelix'' include: *'' Oreohelix alpina'' – alpine mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix amariradix'' – Bitter Root mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix anchana'' – Ancha mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix barbata'' – bearded mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix californica'' – Clark mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix carinifera'' – keeled mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix concentrata'' – Huachuca mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix confragosa'' – Pinos Altos mountainsnail *''

Oreohelix cooperi ''Oreohelix cooperi,'' also known as Cooper’s rocky mountainsnail or the Black Hills mountainsnail, is a critically endangered species of land snail that lives in the Rocky Mountain Ranges and Great Plains of North America. ''Oreohelix cooperi ...

-'' Cooper's rocky mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix elrodi'' – carinate mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix eurekensis'' – Eureka mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix hammeri'' – Seven Devils mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix handi'' – spring mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix haydeni'' – lyrate mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix hendersoni'' – pallid mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix howardi'' – Mill Creek mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix idahoensis'' – costate mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix intersum'' – Deep Slide mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix jaegeri'' – Kyle Canyon mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix jugalis'' – Boulder Pile mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix junii'' – Grand Coulee mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix magdalenae'' – Magdalena mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix metcalfei'' – Black Range mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix nevadensis'' – Schell Creek mountainsnail *''Oreohelix neomexicana - Oscura Mountain Land Snail'' *'' Oreohelix peripherica'' – Deseret mountainsnail **''Oreohelix peripherica peripherica'' (Ancey, 1881) **''Oreohelix peripherica wasatchensis'' (Binney, 1886) *'' Oreohelix pilsbryi'' – Mineral Creek mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix pygmaea'' – pygmy mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix socorroensis'' – Socorro mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix strigosa'' – rocky mountainsnail *''

Oreohelix subrudis ''Oreohelix subrudis'' is a species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Oreohelicidae Oreohelicidae is a family of small to medium-sized air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropo ...

'' – subalpine mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix swopei'' – Morgan Creek mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix tenuistriata'' – thin-ribbed mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix vortex'' – vortex banded mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix waltoni'' – lava rock mountainsnail *'' Oreohelix yavapai'' – Yavapai mountainsnail

Species

References

Further reading