| Albinaria | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Apertural view of a shell of Albinaria latelamellaris | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Subclass: | Heterobranchia |
| Order: | Stylommatophora |
| Family: | Clausiliidae |
| Tribe: | Medorini |
| Genus: | Albinaria Vest, 1867 [1] |
| Diversity [2] | |
| 116 species | |
Albinaria is a genus of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Clausiliidae, the door snails. [3]
The snails live on limestone rocks, where they feed on algae and lichen. They are active only during the wet season, that is, in Mediterranean lowlands, from November through April. Eggs are laid shortly after the beginning of the wet season. The development from a juvenile to a fully grown shell takes two to three wet seasons. During the intermittent dry seasons, the snails, young and adults alike, aestivate ("the warm weather equivalent of hibernation" [4] ) on the rocks or in crevices inside the rocks. For aestivation, aggregates are often formed, sometimes reaching sizes of many hundreds of individuals. During the last dry season prior to sexual maturation, the subadult snail (the shell of which is already fully developed, albeit thinner than that of an adult) increases the size of its genital organs. Copulation then takes place during the first weeks of autumn rains. Population densities can sometimes be very high, in spite of heavy predation by beetle larvae of the genus Drilus. These insects attack the snails during their aestivation, by perforating the shell and eating the snail inside. [5]
Distribution of the genus Albinaria includes:
Species in this genus include 111 species: [6]
Oxychilus is a genus of small air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropods in the subfamily Oxychilinae of the family Oxychilidae, the glass snails.
Clausiliidae, also known by the common name door snails, is a taxonomic family of small, very elongate, mostly left-handed, air-breathing land snails, sinistral terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks.
Charpentieria is a genus of small, very elongate, air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Clausiliidae, the door snails, all of which have a clausilium.
Chondrina is a genus of small air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Chondrinidae.
Cochlostoma is a genus of land snails with an operculum, terrestrial gastropod mollusks in the family Cochlostomatidae.
Xerocrassa is a genus of small, air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the subfamily Helicellinae of the family Geomitridae.
Albinaria latelamellaris is a species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Clausiliidae, the door snails.
Sprattia is a genus of air-breathing land snail with a clausilium, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Clausiliidae, the door snails.
Inchoatia is a genus of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Clausiliidae, the door snails.
Inchoatia haussknechti is a species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Clausiliidae, the door snails.
Albinaria ariadne is a species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Clausiliidae, the door snails. The species is endemic to Crete.
Albinaria idaea is a species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Clausiliidae, the door snails.