Notopala

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Notopala
Temporal range: Aptian-Recent [1]
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Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked):clade Caenogastropoda
informal group Architaenioglossa
Superfamily: Viviparoidea
Family: Viviparidae
Genus:Notopala
Cotton, 1935 [2]
Type species
Paludina hanleyiFrauenfeld, 1864
Synonyms

NotopalenaIredale, 1943

Notopala is a genus of moderately large to large, freshwater snails with an operculum, aquatic gastropod mollusks in the family Viviparidae, the river snails or mystery snails.

A genus is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, as well as viruses, in biology. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus.

Freshwater snail

Freshwater snails are gastropod mollusks which live in freshwater. There are many different families. They are found throughout the world in various habitats, ranging from ephemeral pools to the largest lakes, and from small seeps and springs to major rivers. The great majority of freshwater gastropods have a shell, with very few exceptions. Some groups of snails that live in freshwater respire using gills, whereas other groups need to reach the surface to breathe air. In addition, some are amphibious and have both gills and a lung. Most feed on algae, but many are detritivors and some are filter feeders.

Operculum (gastropod) A hard structure which closes the aperture of a gastropod when the animal retreats into the shell

The operculum, meaning little lid, is a corneous or calcareous anatomical structure like a trapdoor which exists in many groups of sea snails and freshwater snails, and also in a few groups of land snails; the structure is found in some marine and freshwater gastropods, and in a minority of terrestrial gastropods, including the families Helicinidae, Cyclophoridae, Aciculidae, Maizaniidae, Pomatiidae, etc.

Contents

Description

The shell is dextral and globose-conic. [3] The shell has up to five whorls. [3] The aperture is subovate. [3] The operculum is corneous and concentric. [3] Colour is usually yellow, olive green, brown, cream or white and sometimes may have darker spiral bands. [4] Head-foot with long tentacles with eyes on short processes at their outer bases; often pigmented with multiple different colours. [4]

Gastropod shell part of the body of a gastropod or snail

The gastropod shell is part of the body of a gastropod or snail, a kind of mollusc. The shell is an exoskeleton, which protects from predators, mechanical damage, and dehydration, but also serves for muscle attachment and calcium storage. Some gastropods appear shell-less (slugs) but may have a remnant within the mantle, or the shell is reduced such that the body cannot be retracted within (semi-slug). Some snails also possess an operculum that seals the opening of the shell, known as the aperture, which provides further protection. The study of mollusc shells is known as conchology. The biological study of gastropods, and other molluscs in general, is malacology. Shell morphology terms vary by species group. An excellent source for terminology of the gastropod shell is "How to Know the Eastern Land Snails" by John B. Burch now freely available at the Hathi Trust Digital Library.

Sinistral and dextral, in some scientific fields, are the two types of chirality ("handedness") or relative direction.

Whorl (mollusc)

A whorl is a single, complete 360° revolution or turn in the spiral growth of a mollusc shell. A spiral configuration of the shell is found in of numerous gastropods, but it is also found in shelled cephalopods including Nautilus, Spirula and the large extinct subclass of cephalopods known as the ammonites.

Distribution

The genus of Notopala is endemic to Australia. Notopala is found in all states and territories except Tasmania. Occurs throughout Queensland and New South Wales, northern Western Australia and Northern Territory and in the Murray-Darling Basin in Victoria and South Australia.

Endemism Ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location or habitat

Endemism is the ecological state of a species being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation, country or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. The extreme opposite of endemism is cosmopolitan distribution. An alternative term for a species that is endemic is precinctive, which applies to species that are restricted to a defined geographical area.

Australia Country in Oceania

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the largest country in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country by total area. The neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north; the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east. The population of 25 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Australia's capital is Canberra, and its largest city is Sydney. The country's other major metropolitan areas are Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

Tasmania island state of Australia

Tasmania is an island state of Australia. It is located 240 km (150 mi) to the south of the Australian mainland, separated by Bass Strait. The state encompasses the main island of Tasmania, the 26th-largest island in the world, and the surrounding 334 islands. The state has a population of around 526,700 as of March 2018. Just over forty percent of the population resides in the Greater Hobart precinct, which forms the metropolitan area of the state capital and largest city, Hobart.

Habitat and ecology

Generally occurs on fine sediment and/or on and under rocks and logs. Members of Notopala are thought to be grazers of periphyton and occur in slow moving or still waters. [5] Some species are able to aestivate in mud during dry periods.

Sediment Particulate solid matter that is deposited on the surface of land

Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sand and silt can be carried in suspension in river water and on reaching the sea bed deposited by sedimentation and if buried, may eventually become sandstone and siltstone.

Periphyton bioindicators attached to submerged surfaces in most aquatic ecosystems

Periphyton is a complex mixture of algae, cyanobacteria, heterotrophic microbes, and detritus that is attached to submerged surfaces in most aquatic ecosystems. The related term Aufwuchs refers to the collection of small animals and plants that adhere to open surfaces in aquatic environments, such as parts of rooted plants. Periphyton serves as an important food source for invertebrates, tadpoles, and some fish. It can also absorb contaminants, removing them from the water column and limiting their movement through the environment. The periphyton is also an important indicator of water quality; responses of this community to pollutants can be measured at a variety of scales representing physiological to community-level changes. Periphyton has often been used as an experimental system in, e.g., pollution-induced community tolerance studies.

Species

Species within the genus Notopala include:

The Aptian is an age in the geologic timescale or a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early or Lower Cretaceous epoch or series and encompasses the time from 125.0 ± 1.0 Ma to 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma, approximately. The Aptian succeeds the Barremian and precedes the Albian, all part of the Lower/Early Cretaceous.

Wallumbilla Formation Marine grey mudstone and siltstone with minor interbeds of fine-grained glauconitic and calcareous sandstone, local thin micritic limestone beds and heavy mineral strandline accumulations; down-sequence glacial ice-rafted erratics.

The Wallumbilla Formation is an Aptian geologic formation found in Australia. Plesiosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from its strata.

Notopala hanleyi is a species of large freshwater snail, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Viviparidae. It is also classified as a subspecies Notopala sublineata hanleyi.

Note:

"Banded species of Notopala occur in several parts of northern Australia and Queensland that are similar to N. essingtonensis, N. tricincta and N. kingi but are thought to be different species (W. Ponder, unpublished studies). These should be identified simply as Notopala sp." [4]

The type species of the genus Notopala is Paludina hanleyi Frauenfeld, 1862, by original designation [1]

Related Research Articles

Viviparidae family of molluscs

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

<i>Viviparus</i> genus of molluscs

Viviparus, common name the river snails, is a genus of large, freshwater snails with an operculum, aquatic gastropod mollusks.

Chinese mystery snail species of mollusc

The Chinese mystery snail, black snail, or trapdoor snail, is a large freshwater snail with gills and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Viviparidae. The Japanese variety of this species is black and usually a dark green, moss-like alga covers the shell.

Australian freshwater limpet species of mollusc

The Australian freshwater limpet or Tasmanian freshwater limpet, scientific name Ancylastrum cumingianus, is a species of air-breathing freshwater snail or freshwater limpet, an aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family Planorbidae. This species is endemic to freshwater lakes in the Central Plateau of Tasmania.

Cylindrovertilla kingi, common name King's amber pupasnail, is a species of minute, air-breathing land snail, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs or micromolluscs in the family Vertiginidae, the whorl snails.

Glyptophysa is a genus of medium-sized sinistral (left-handed) air-breathing freshwater snails, aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family of Planorbidae.

Notopala sublineata is a species of large, freshwater snail with an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Viviparidae, the river snails or mystery snails. This species is endemic to Australia.

<i>Viviparus georgianus</i> species of mollusc

Viviparus georgianus, common name the banded mystery snail, is a species of large freshwater snail with gills and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Viviparidae, the river snails.

<i>Bellamya</i> (gastropod) genus of molluscs

Bellamya is a genus of freshwater snails with a gill and an operculum, aquatic gastropod mollusks in the family Viviparidae.

<i>Filopaludina martensi</i> species of mollusc

Filopaludina martensi is a species of large freshwater snail with a gill and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Viviparidae.

<i>Stenomelania denisoniensis</i> species of mollusc

Stenomelania denisoniensis is a very variable species of freshwater snail, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Thiaridae. Stenomelania denisoniensis has a long, slender shell and small aperture. This species has a characteristic angled shoulder just below the suture. This shoulder may be strong in some individuals and weak in others even if they are part of the same population.

<i>Angulyagra polyzonata</i> species of mollusc

Angulyagra polyzonata is a species of a freshwater snail with a gill and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Viviparidae.

Velesunio is a genus of medium to large sized mussels in the family Hyriidae.

Bullastra is a genus of large-sized, globose snails in the family Lymnaeidae. Snails in this genus have large apertures and fleshy, triangular tentacles. This genus is similar to Austropeplea but differs in generally being larger and having a distinctive twist in the columella.

Bayardella is a genus of small, neritiform cylindrical shelled gastropods belonging to the family Planorbidae. They are native and endemic to Australia. Species of Bayardella, like other Planorbids, are non-operculate.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 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". Molluscan Research 23(2): 149-158. doi : 10.1071/MR03003, PDF.
  2. ↑ Cotton B. C. (1935). "Recent Australian Viviparidae and a fossil species". Records of the South Australian Museum 5: 339-344. page 339.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 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
  4. 1 2 3 "Notopala - fact sheet". keys.lucidcentral.org. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
  5. ↑ The Waterbug Book.
  6. ↑ Etheridge R. Jr. (1902). "A monograph of the Cretaceous invertebrate fauna of New South Wales". Memoirs of the Geological Survey of New South Wales 11: 1-98.
  7. ↑ "Notopala ampullaroides - fact sheet". keys.lucidcentral.org. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
  8. ↑ "Notopala essingtonensis - fact sheet". keys.lucidcentral.org. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
  9. ↑ "Notopala hanleyi - fact sheet". keys.lucidcentral.org. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
  10. 1 2 "Notopala kingi kingi - fact sheet". keys.lucidcentral.org. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
  11. ↑ "Notopala kingi suprafasciata - fact sheet". keys.lucidcentral.org. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
  12. 1 2 River Snail (Notopala sublineata). accessed 26 September 2010
  13. ↑ "Notopala tricincta - fact sheet". keys.lucidcentral.org. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
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