Viviparidae Explained

Viviparidae, sometimes known as the river snails or mystery snails, are a family of large aquatic gastropod mollusks, being some of the most widely distributed operculate freshwater snails.

This family is classified in the informal group Architaenioglossa according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005.

Distribution

This family occurs nearly worldwide in temperate and tropical regions, with the exception that they are absent from South America.

There are two genera of Viviparidae in Africa: Bellamya and Neothauma.

The oldest known vivparid is Viviparus langtonensis from the Middle Jurassic of England.^[1] The oldest records from the Southern Hemisphere is from the Late Jurassic Talbragar fossil beds of Australia.^[2]

Taxonomy

The family Viviparidae contains 3 subfamilies (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005):

• Viviparinae Gray, 1847 (1833) - synonyms: Paludinidae Fitzinger, 1833 (inv.); Kosoviinae Atanackovic, 1859 (n.a.)
• Bellamyinae Rohrbach, 1937 - synonym: Amuropaludinidae Starobogatov, Prozorova, Bogatov & Sayenko, 2004 (n.a.)
• Lioplacinae Gill, 1863 - synonym: Campelomatinae Thiele, 1929

Genera

Genera within the family Viviparidae include:

subfamily Viviparinae Gray, 1847

• Galizgia Mikhaylovskiy, 1903
• † Kosovia Atanacković, 1959
• Rivularia Heude, 1890^[3]
• Trochopaludina Starobogatov, 1985
• Tulotoma Haldeman, 1840
• Viviparus Montfort, 1810 - type genus

subfamily Bellamyinae Rohrbach, 1937

• Amuropaludina Moskvicheva, 1979
• Angulyagra Rao, 1931^[4]
• Anulotaia Brandt, 1968
• Anularya Zhang & Chen, 2015^[5]
• † Apameaus Sivan, Heller & van Damme, 2006^[6] This Pliocene-Pleistocene genus contains only one species Apameaus apameae Sivan, Heller & van Damme, 2006
• Bellamya Jousseame, 1886 - type genus of the subfamily
• Boganmargarya Thach, 2018
• Cipangopaludina Hannibal, 1912^[4]
• Eyriesia P. Fischer, 1885
• Filopaludina Habe, 1964
• Heterogen Annandale, 1921 - with the only species Heterogen longispira (E. A. Smith, 1886)
• Idiopoma Pilsbry, 1901
• Larina Adams, 1851^[7]
• Margarya Nevill, 1877
• Mekongia Crosse & Fischer, 1876
• Neclarina Iredale, 1943
• Notopala Cotton, 1935^[8]
• Sinotaia Haas, 1939
• Taia Annandale, 1918
• † Temnotaia Annandale, 1919
• Tchangmargarya He, 2013^[5]
• Torotaia Haas, 1939
• Trochotaia Brandt, 1974^[9]

subfamily Lioplacinae Gill, 1863

• Campeloma Rafinesque, 1819
• Lioplax Troschel, 1856

subfamily ?

• † Albianopalin Hamilton-Bruce, Smith & Gowlett-Holmes, 2002^[10] - from Albian, New South Wales^[10]
• Neothauma E. A. Smith, 1880^[11]
• Siamopaludina Brandt, 1968

Genera brought into synonymy:

• Centrapala Cotton, 1935:^[7] synonym of Larina A. Adams, 1855
• Contectiana Bourguignat, 1880: synonym of Viviparus Montfort, 1810
• Eularina Iredale, 1943: synonym of Larina A. Adams, 1855
• subfamily † Kosoviinae Atanacković, 1959: synonym of Viviparidae Gray, 1847
• Lecythoconcha Annandale, 1920: synonym of Cipangopaludina Hannibal, 1912
• Metohia Popović, 1964 : (junior homonym, no replacement name available in 2014)
• Notopalena Iredale, 1943: synonym of Notopala Cotton, 1935
• Paludina Férussac, 1812: synonym of Viviparus Montfort, 1810
• Siamopaludina Brandt, 1968 : synonym of Filopaludina (Siamopaludina) Brandt, 1968 represented as Filopaludina Habe, 1964
• Vivipara : synonym of Viviparus Montfort, 1810

Life cycle

Life spans have been reported from 3 to 11 years in various species of Viviparidae.^[12]

Further reading

• Hirano T., Saito T. & Chiba S. (2015). "Phylogeny of freshwater viviparid snails in Japan". Journal of Molluscan Studies 81(4): 435–441. .
• Qian Z.-X., Fang Y.-F. & He J. (2014). "A conchological review of Bellamyinae (Gastropoda: Viviparidae) of China". Shell Discoveries 1(3): 3-12.

External links

• Ju-Guang Wang, Dong Zhang, Ivan Jakovlić, Wei-Min Wang, Sequencing of the complete mitochondrial genomes of eight freshwater snail species exposes pervasive paraphyly within the Viviparidae family (Caenogastropoda); PLOS|One, July 25, 2017

Notes and References

1. Stelbrink. Björn. Richter. Romy. Köhler. Frank. Riedel. Frank. Strong. Ellen E. Van Bocxlaer. Bert. Albrecht. Christian. Hauffe. Torsten. Page. Timothy J. Aldridge. David C. Bogan. Arthur E. 2020-02-15. Global Diversification Dynamics Since the Jurassic: Low Dispersal and Habitat-Dependent Evolution Explain Hotspots of Diversity and Shell Disparity in River Snails (Viviparidae). Systematic Biology. 69. 5. 944–961. 10.1093/sysbio/syaa011. 32061133 . 1063-5157. 20.500.12210/34294. free.
2. Frese. Michael. Ponder. Winston. 2021-07-03. Proviviparus talbragarensis gen. et sp. nov., the first viviparid snail from the Late Jurassic of Australia. Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. en. 45. 3. 344–353. 10.1080/03115518.2021.1940276. 2021Alch...45..344F . 238777174 . 0311-5518.
3. Van Bocxlaer. Bert. Strong. Ellen E. Richter. Romy. Stelbrink. Björn. Rintelen. Thomas Von. 14 December 2017. Anatomical and genetic data reveal that Rivularia Heude, 1890 belongs to Viviparinae (Gastropoda: Viviparidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. en. 182. 1. 1–23. 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlx014. 0024-4082.
4. (file created 29 July 2010) FRESH WATER MOLLUSCAN SPECIES IN INDIA. 11 pp. accessed 31 July 2010.
5. Zhang . L. J. . Chen . S. C. . Yang . L. T. . Jin . L. . Köhler . F. . 2015 . Systematic revision of the freshwater snail Nevill, 1877 (Mollusca: Viviparidae) endemic to the ancient lakes of Yunnan, China, with description of new taxa . . 174 . 4. 760–800 . 10.1111/zoj.12260 . free .
6. Sivan . N. . Heller . J. . van Damme . D. . 2006 . Fossil Viviparidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) of the Levant . Journal of Conchology . 39 . 2. 207–220 .
7. Kear . B. P. . Hamilton-Bruce . R. J. . Smith . B. J. . Gowlett-Holmes . K. L. . 2003 . Reassessment of Australia's oldest freshwater snail, Viviparus (?) albascopularis Etheridge, 1902 (Mollusca : Gastropoda : Viviparidae), from the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian, Wallumbilla Formation) of White Cliffs, New South Wales . . 23 . 2. 149–158 . 10.1071/MR03003 . free . 2003MollR..23..149K .
8. http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/species/river-snail.html River Snail (Notopala sublineata)
9. Du L.-N., Yang J.-X. & Chen X.-Y. (2011). "A new species of Trochotaia (Caenogastropoda: Viviparidae) from Yunnan, China". Molluscan Research 31(2): 85-89. abstract
10. Hamilton-Bruce R. J., Smith B. J. & Gowlett-Holmes K. L. (2002). "Descriptions of a new genus and two new species of viviparid snails (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Viviparidae) from the Early Cretaceous (middle-late Albian) Griman Creek Formation of Lightning Ridge, northern New South Wales". Records of the South Australian Museum 35': 193–203. PDF
11. Brown D. S. (1994). Freshwater Snails of Africa and their Medical Importance. Taylor & Francis. .
12. Heller . J . 1990 . Longevity in molluscs . . 31 . 2. 259–295 .