Pulmonata

Pulmonata; Temporal range:
	Various examples of Pulmonata
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Heterobranchia
Informal group:	Pulmonata; Cuvier, 1814
Taxonomic subdivisions
	Informal group Basommatophora; Clade Eupulmonata;

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 includes many land and freshwater families, and several marine families.

The taxon Pulmonata as traditionally defined was found to be polyphyletic in a molecular study per Jörger et al., dating from 2010.^[1]

Pulmonata are known from the Carboniferous period to the present.^[2]

Pulmonates have a single atrium and kidney, and a concentrated symmetrical nervous system. The mantle cavity is on the right side of the body, and lacks gills, instead being converted into a vascularised lung. Most species have a shell, but no operculum, although the group does also include several shell-less slugs. Pulmonates are hermaphroditic, and some groups possess love darts.^[3]

^ Cite error: The named reference Jörger 2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ (in Czech) Pek I., Vašíček Z., Roček Z., Hajn. V. & Mikuláš R. 1996. Základy zoopaleontologie. Olomouc, 264 pp., ISBN 80-7067-599-3.
^ Barnes, Robert D. (1982). Invertebrate Zoology. Philadelphia, PA: Holt-Saunders International. p. 377. ISBN 0-03-056747-5.

[Jörger_2010-1] Cite error: The named reference Jörger 2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[2] (in Czech) Pek I., Vašíček Z., Roček Z., Hajn. V. & Mikuláš R. 1996. Základy zoopaleontologie. Olomouc, 264 pp., ISBN 80-7067-599-3.

[IZ-3] Barnes, Robert D. (1982). Invertebrate Zoology. Philadelphia, PA: Holt-Saunders International. p. 377. ISBN 0-03-056747-5.

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