The gastropods portalGastropods (/ˈɡæstrəpɒdz/), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (/ɡæsˈtrɒpədə/). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and from the land. There are many thousands of species of sea snails and slugs, as well as freshwater snails, freshwater limpets, land snails and slugs. The class Gastropoda is a diverse and highly successful class of mollusks within the phylum Mollusca. It contains a vast total of named species, second only to the insects in overall number. The fossil history of this class goes back to the Late Cambrian. As of 2017[update], 721 families of gastropods are known, of which 245 are extinct and appear only in the fossil record, while 476 are currently extant with or without a fossil record. Gastropoda (previously known as univalves and sometimes spelled "Gasteropoda") are a major part of the phylum Mollusca, and are the most highly diversified class in the phylum, with 65,000 to 80,000 living snail and slug species. The anatomy, behavior, feeding, and reproductive adaptations of gastropods vary significantly from one clade or group to another, so stating many generalities for all gastropods is difficult. The class Gastropoda has an extraordinary diversification of habitats. Representatives live in gardens, woodland, deserts, and on mountains; in small ditches, great rivers, and lakes; in estuaries, mudflats, the rocky intertidal, the sandy subtidal, the abyssal depths of the oceans, including the hydrothermal vents, and numerous other ecological niches, including parasitic ones. Although the name "snail" can be, and often is, applied to all the members of this class, commonly this word means only those species with an external shell big enough that the soft parts can withdraw completely into it. Slugs are gastropods that have no shell or a very small, internal shell; semislugs are gastropods that have a shell that they can partially retreat into but not entirely. The marine shelled species of gastropods include species such as abalone, conches, periwinkles, whelks, and numerous other sea snails that produce seashells that are coiled in the adult stage—though in some, the coiling may not be very visible, for example in cowries. In a number of families of species, such as all the various limpets, the shell is coiled only in the larval stage, and is a simple conical structure after that. (Full article...) Selected article![]() The Chittenango ovate amber snail, scientific name Novisuccinea chittenangoensis, is a species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial gastropod mollusk in the family Succineidae, the amber snails. This species is endemic to a very restricted part of the Chittenango area in Madison County, New York, United States. The one extant population is at Chittenango Falls State Park in central New York. It was discovered in 1905. The only verified extant colony of Novisuccinea chittenangoensis is the type-population at Chittenango Falls, in Chittenango Falls State Park, 3.6 miles north of Cazenovia, between the Towns of Cazenovia and Chittenango, in Madison County, New York. At various times in the past, the species has been thought to have a broader range. To date, although many potentially suitable colony sites have been searched, no colony has been conclusively identified as Novisuccinea chittenangoensis outside of the Chittenango Falls area. The snails survives in and presumably prefer, cool, partially sunlit areas of lush herbaceous growth within the spray zone of the Falls. (Read more...) Selected biography![]() In 1801, he published Système des animaux sans vertèbres, a major work on the classification of invertebrates, a term he invented. In an 1802 publication, he became one of the first to use the term biology in its modern sense. Lamarck continued his work as a premier authority on invertebrate zoology. He is remembered, at least in malacology, as a taxonomist of very considerable stature, having named and described many hundreds of taxa of gastropods and other mollusks. (Read more...) Did you know?
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Selected image![]() An apertural view of an adult shell of the extremely large sea snail known as the Australian trumpet, Syrinx aruanus in the family Turbinellidae. This species is the largest Recent shelled gastropod species; the height of the shell can be up to 91 cm. The shell itself is usually pale apricot in color as shown here, however in life the shell is covered by thick brown or grey periostracum. The whole shell has a spindle-like shape and the spire of the shell is quite high. The whorls usually have a strong keel and the shell has a long siphonal canal. There are no folds on the columella, unlike some other genera within the same family. In this image, a rod is visible protruding from the siphonal canal; this metal structure is used to support the specimen as it is on display in the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Lists of gastropods
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Related portalsSubcategoriesCategories about gastropods: Request to editors: please do not create any more categories of gastropods by country. Instead create list articles, article with a list of the marine or non-marine gastropods of whichever country or area you are interested in. We would also like to empty and delete the two remaining country categories we have, adding that information to list articles instead. Thank you. Things to do
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