Holospira Explained

Holospira is a genus of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the family Urocoptidae.

Holospira is the type genus of the subfamily 'Holospirinae Pilsbry, 1946'.

Etymology

Holos (ὅλος) from Ancient Greek means "‘whole’" or "‘entire’" and spira (spīra) from Latin means spire.

Shell description

The shell is small, cylindric, terminating above in a conic spire, retaining all the whorls, rimate or perforate. The shell has 11-21 whorls, which are closely coiled. The first 1½ of whorls are smooth. The rest of whorls are smooth, striate or ribbed. The suture is superficial. Body whorl is more or less built forward.

The aperture is small, obliquely pear-shaped, rounded or oval. The peristome is expanded or reflected, continuous and usually free throughout.

The columella (internal column) is hollow, variously sculptured or smooth.

Anatomy

The foot is small, narrow for its length.

The lung is long and narrow. Kidney is very narrowly triangular, being wider at the base, tapering anteriorly, slightly longer than the pericardium. There is apparently no secondary ureter.

The buccal mass is small, about twice as long as wide, the oesophagus opening well forward. Salivary glands are not united, and in Holospira goldfussi they have long ducts.

The jaw is thin, arcuate, with a wide median projection below or none. The radula is about four times as long as wide, with from 19.1.19 teeth (in Holospira pilsbryi) to 27.1.27 (in Holopsira nelsoni).

The genital system is like this: there is an atrium of moderate length, the penis is short, with a very long vas deferens, the retractor muscle (p. r.) being inserted at or just beyond the slightly swollen penis, and proximally attached to the floor of the lung, as usual.

The free retractor muscles, attached proximally to the axis at about the junction of the cone with the cylindrical portion of the shell, are excessively long.

Distribution

The geographic range of this genus extends from southern Mexico to Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. These snails are not found in Lower California nor Guatemala on the southeast.

Habitat

They are confined chiefly to the elevated plateau, where they live under cacti, etc., in sunny places.

These snails can tolerate great heat.

Henry Augustus Pilsbry (1903) states, that living specimens of Holospira strobeliana and Holospira nelsoni survived immersion in boiling water for some minutes. Unlike other snails, they did not retract in the water.

Species

Species in the genus Holospira include:[1] [2]

References

This article incorporates public domain text from reference.[7]

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=77038 Holospira
  2. http://pick4.pick.uga.edu/mp/20q?search=Holospira Holospira
  3. Gilbertson L. H. & Worthington R. D. 2003. A new species of Holospira (Pulmonata: Urocoptidae) from New Mexico. The Veliger, 46(3): 220-224.
  4. Gilbertson L. H. & Naranjo-García E. (2010). "A new species of Holospira (Gastropoda: Pulmonata: Urocoptidae) from Coahuila, Mexico". Nautilus 124: 181-184.
  5. Kathryn E. Perez. (last edited September 12, 2006) Land Snail List for Texas . accessed 25 June 2009.
  6. Joseph H. Hartman. 1981. Early Tertiary nonmarine Mollusca of New Mexico: A review. GSA Bulletin, Geological Society of America, December 1981, 92(12): 942-950. .
  7. Pilsbry H. A. 1903. Manual of Conchology. Second series: Pulmonata. Volume 15 Urocoptidae. page 66-67.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Holospira".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.