| Galba schirazensis | |
|---|---|
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| a live Galba schirazensis | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Subclass: | Heterobranchia |
| Superorder: | Hygrophila |
| Family: | Lymnaeidae |
| Genus: | Galba |
| Species: | G. schirazensis |
| Binomial name | |
| Galba schirazensis | |
| Synonyms | |
Limnaeus Schirazensis Küster, 1862 Contents | |
Galba schirazensis [3] is a species of air-breathing freshwater snail, an aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Lymnaeidae, the pond snails.
This species was originally described by German malacologist Heinrich Carl Küster. Although text description was in 1863 and figure description in 1862, the year 1862 prevails (according to the article 12.2.7 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature) because the name was already correctly cited in the figure legends of the 1862 plate. [4]
The specific name schirazensis is based on the name of the Iranian city Shiraz, which is the type locality for this species.
Morphological, anatomical and phylogenetic analyses performed by Bargues et al. (2011) [4] confirmed that this species belong to the Galba/Fossaria group. [4] According to the same study, Galba schirazensis was previously an overlooked cryptic species, which had generally been confused with the very similar species Galba truncatula . [4]
According to the 2012 IUCN Red List, [1] the native distribution of Galba schirazensis includes: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran and Russian Federation. [1]
The distribution of this species includes:
Galba schirazensis was introduced to Central and South America from the Old World: [6]
The type locality is Shiraz, Iran. [2] [4]
Drawings of the shell of Galba schirazensis from its original description by Heinrich Carl Küster:
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The shell is brownish to reddish light brown, thin-walled, elongated conical, usually with four regular convex whorls and up to 5.5 whorls in the longer specimens. [4] The whorls are somewhat inflated, slightly shouldered, with silky and longitudinally striated surface and separated by a deep, well-marked suture, increasing rather slowly in diameter. [4] The columella is straight, unfolded, and the umbilicus is open. [4] The last or body whorl is almost ¾ times as high as the shell height, presenting a slight twisting trend along its basal part visible in the biggest shells when viewed dorsally, and which is due to the enlargement of the basal lip of the peristome (in the way of Pseudosuccinea columella ). [4] The spire is pointed. [4] The aperture is elongatedly oval, slightly oblique, mid-sized and wider at the base. [4] The thin peristome is patent throughout, the umbilicus is partially covered by a widened columellar lip. [4] The shell shows a tendency to be approximately one and a half to two times as long as it is wide, and its aperture tends to be slightly less than half as long as the shell. [4] The width of the shell is 1.39–4.31 mm. [4] The height of the shell is 2.41–8.06 mm. [4] The width of the aperture is 0.77–2.66 mm. [4] The height of the aperture is 1.16–4.12 mm. [4]
The following three characteristics of shell may be useful in species identification: The maximum height of the shell is 8.06 mm. [8] Whorls are regularly convex. [8] The columella is straight. [8]
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The cephalopedeal mass is pale greyish. [4] The eyes are black and relatively big in size. [4] Tentacles are elongate, slender, pyramidal, with a narrow base. [4] The mantle roof is dark, from dark brown to blackish throughout, with small unpigmented white-greyish round spots including several tiny circles at the beginning of the border of the pulmonary region and a few scattered further away in between the initial large round spots. [4] The border of the mantle is light grey. [4] The black pigmentation of the hypopeplear region of the mantle roof gave a dark appearance to the shell of living specimens by transparency. [4] This dark appearance did not depend on the characteristics of the natural habitat, as it was maintained across the different laboratory-reared snail generations (quite the opposite of what happens with several darkish populations of other lymnaeid species under experimental conditions). [4]
The following external characteristics of shell may be useful in species identification: Tentacles are elongate, slender and with a narrow base. [8] Eyes are big. [8] the color of mantle roof varies from dark brown to blackish throughout, with unpigmented white-greyish round spots, giving a dark appearance to the shell by transparency. [8]
The following internal characteristics of shell may be useful in species identification: The first bilateral teeth are mostly bicuspid in radula. [8] The praeputium/penis sheath length ratio is 1.20–2.23 mm (mean 1.60 mm). [8]
Two species that have a similar morphology: Galba truncatula and Galba neotropica . [8] Galba schirazensis is genetically distant but phenotypically very close to Galba truncatula and it has always been confused with Galba truncatula. [4] Although several phenotypic characteristics may a priori be helpful for a preliminary specimen classification, a definitive classification of a specimen can only be obtained by the sequencing of at least one of the molecular markers used: ribosomal DNA markers ITS-2 and ITS-1; mitochondrial DNA markers: 16S and cox1. [8]
Galba schirazensis is often amphibious and there is a terrestrial trend. [8] They are sometimes anthropophilous. [8] Mixed populations of Galba truncatula and Galba schirazensis have already been described in the field. [8] Self-fertilization has been verified to be the normal fertilisation process in Galba schirazensis. [8] They are hatching from eggs. The shape of egg cluster is kidney- to banana-like, the more curved, elongated and narrow the more numerous are the eggs inside. [8] There are around 6–14 eggs in cluster. [8]
Researchers believed that, unlike the similar species Galba truncatula, Galba schirazensis did not transfer Fasciola hepatica (i.e. was not able to transmit fascioliasis). [4] [8] However, results published in 2017 found that Galba schirazensis was harbouring rediae of Fasciola hepatica in Ecuador and could be an intermediate host. [7]
This hitherto overlooked species has been distorting results of fasciolid specificity/susceptibility analyses as well as the geographical distribution of the disease. [4] Galba schirazensis can be used as a useful biomarker of foreign livestock introduction. [4] Galba schirazensis offers an outstanding laboratory model for studies on genomics and proteomics about susceptibility/resistance in Fasciola hepatica/lymnaeid interaction. [4]
Fasciolosis is a parasitic worm infection caused by the common liver fluke Fasciola hepatica as well as by Fasciola gigantica. The disease is a plant-borne trematode zoonosis, and is classified as a neglected tropical disease (NTD). It affects humans, but its main host is ruminants such as cattle and sheep. The disease progresses through four distinct phases; an initial incubation phase of between a few days up to three months with little or no symptoms; an invasive or acute phase which may manifest with: fever, malaise, abdominal pain, gastrointestinal symptoms, urticaria, anemia, jaundice, and respiratory symptoms. The disease later progresses to a latent phase with less symptoms and ultimately into a chronic or obstructive phase months to years later. In the chronic state the disease causes inflammation of the bile ducts, gall bladder and may cause gall stones as well as fibrosis. While chronic inflammation is connected to increased cancer rates, it is unclear whether fasciolosis is associated with increased cancer risk.
Fasciola hepatica, also known as the common liver fluke or sheep liver fluke, is a parasitic trematode of the class Trematoda, phylum Platyhelminthes. It infects the livers of various mammals, including humans, and is transmitted by sheep and cattle to humans the world over. The disease caused by the fluke is called fasciolosis or fascioliasis, which is a type of helminthiasis and has been classified as a neglected tropical disease. Fasciolosis is currently classified as a plant/food-borne trematode infection, often acquired through eating the parasite's metacercariae encysted on plants. F. hepatica, which is distributed worldwide, has been known as an important parasite of sheep and cattle for decades and causes significant economic losses in these livestock species, up to £23 million in the UK alone. Because of its relatively large size and economic importance, it has been the subject of many scientific investigations and may be the best-known of any trematode species. F. hepatica's closest relative is Fasciola gigantica. These two flukes are sister species; they share many morphological features and can mate with each other.
Fasciola, commonly known as the liver fluke, is a genus of parasitic trematodes. There are two species within the genus Fasciola: Fasciolahepatica and Fasciolagigantica, as well as hybrids between the two species. Both species infect the liver tissue of a wide variety of mammals, including humans, in a condition known as fascioliasis. F. hepatica measures up to 30 mm by 15 mm, while F. gigantica measures up to 75 mm by 15 mm.
Fasciola gigantica is a parasitic flatworm of the class Trematoda, which causes tropical fascioliasis. It is regarded as one of the most important single platyhelminth infections of ruminants in Asia and Africa. Estimates of infection rates are as high as 80–100% in some countries. The infection is commonly called fasciolosis.
Fascioloides magna, also known as giant liver fluke, large American liver fluke or deer fluke, is trematode parasite that occurs in wild and domestic ruminants in North America and Europe. Adult flukes occur in the liver of the definitive host and feed on blood. Mature flukes measure 4 to 10 centimetres in length × 2 to 3.5 centimetres in width, and have an oval dorso-ventrally flattened body with oral and ventral sucker. The flukes are reddish-brown in colour and are covered by tegument. As with other digenean trematodes, the life cycle includes intramolluscan phase in snails. The parasite is currently distributed in wild ruminants in North America and Europe, including Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, and the United States.
Galba truncatula is a species of air-breathing freshwater snail, an aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Lymnaeidae, the pond snails.
Lymnaeidae, common name the pond snails, is a taxonomic family of small to large air-breathing freshwater snails, aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusks, that belong to the clade Hygrophila.
Lymnaea is a genus of small to large-sized air-breathing freshwater snails, aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the subfamily Lymnaeinae ( of the family Lymnaeidae, the pond snails.
Radix is a genus of air-breathing freshwater snails, aquatic pulmonate gastropods in the family Lymnaeidae, the pond snails.
Pseudosuccinea columella, the American ribbed fluke snail, is a species of air-breathing freshwater snail, an aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Lymnaeidae, the pond snails.
Omphiscola glabra is a species of small to medium-size, air-breathing, freshwater snail, an aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Lymnaeidae. Omphiscola glabra is the type species of the genus Omphiscola.
Radix auricularia, the big-ear radix, is a species of medium-sized freshwater snail, an aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Lymnaeidae.
Galba is a genus of small air-breathing freshwater snails, aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Lymnaeidae, the pond snails.
Radix rubiginosa is a species of air-breathing freshwater snail, an aquatic pulmonate gastropod in the family Lymnaeidae, the pond snails.
Radix natalensis is a species of freshwater snail, an aquatic gastropod mollusc in the family Lymnaeidae.
Galba cousini is a species of air-breathing freshwater snail, an aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Lymnaeidae, the pond snails.
Galba meridensis is a species of air-breathing freshwater snail, an aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family Lymnaeidae, the pond snails.
Galba neotropica is a species of air-breathing freshwater snail, an aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Lymnaeidae, the pond snails.
Austropeplea viridis is a species of air-breathing freshwater snail, an aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Lymnaeidae, the pond snails.
Haplometra cylindracea is a trematode parasite of frogs. Adult worms measure usually 10 mm and they are located in the lungs. H. cylindracea develops through 2 intermediate hosts: the first, a freshwater snail, the second, a water beetle.
This article incorporates CC-BY-2.5 text from the reference [4] and CC-BY-2.0 text from the reference [8]
Media related to Galba schirazensis at Wikimedia Commons