Tomichia

Tomichia
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Littorinimorpha
Family:	Tomichiidae
Genus:	Tomichia Benson, 1851 [1]
Diversity [2]
11 species

Tomichia is a genus of very small freshwater snails which have a gill and an operculum, gastropod molluscs or micromolluscs in the family Tomichiidae. ^[3]

Distribution

The distribution of the genus Tomichia includes South Africa ^[2] and Eastern Zaire. ^[4] Tomichia is the only genus of Pomatiopsidae in Africa. ^[4]

Ecology

This genus occurs is both freshwater and brackish water. ^[3] There exist halophilic species of Tomichia which live in saline lakes ^[2] such as Tomichia ventricosa . ^[4]

Species

Brown (1994) ^[4] recognized 10 species (7 in South Africa and 3 in Central Africa) and one undescribed species. Kameda & Kato (2011) ^[2] recognized 11 species of Tomichia.

Species within the genus Tomichia include:

• Tomichia cawstoni Connolly, 1939 ^[4]
• Tomichia differens Connolly, 1939 ^[4]
• Tomichia guillemei Leloup, 1953 ^[4]
• Tomichia hendrickxi (Verdcourt, 1950) ^[4]
• Tomichia kivuensis Mandahl-Barth, 1974 ^[4]
• Tomichia natalensis Connolly, 1939 ^[4]
• Tomichia rogersi (Connolly, 1929) ^[4]
• Tomichia tristis (Morelet, 1889) ^{[4] [5]} - critically endangered ^[6]
• Tomichia ventricosa (Reeve, 1842) - type species ^[4]
• Tomichia zwellendamensis (Küster, 1852) ^[4]
• (?)Tomichia n.sp. - reported by Cohen (1986) from Lake Turkana ^[4]

References

1. Benson (1851). Annals and Magazine of Natural History (2)7: 377.
2. Kameda Y. & Kato M. (2011). "Terrestrial invasion of pomatiopsid gastropods in the heavy-snow region of the Japanese Archipelago". BMC Evolutionary Biology 11: 118. doi : 10.1186/1471-2148-11-118 .
3. Rosenberg, G. (2010). Tomichia Benson, 1851. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=405098 on 2011-04-04
4. Brown D. S. (1994). Freshwater Snails of Africa and their Medical Importance. Taylor & Francis. ISBN   0-7484-0026-5.
5. WoRMS (2010). Tomichia tristis. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=405099 on 2011-04-04
6. Kristensen T. K., Stensgaard A-S. & Appleton C. (2007). Tomichia tristis. In: IUCN 2010. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2010.4. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 30 May 2011.

External links

• Davis G. M. (1981). "Different Modes of Evolution and Adaptive Radiation in the Pomatiopsidae (Prosobranchia: Mesogastropoda)". Malacologia 21(1-2): 209-262.
• Verdcourt B. (1951). "The distribution of the genus Tomichia Benson in Africa". Revue de Zoologie et de Botanique Africaines 44: 173-174.
• Verdcourt B. (1960). "A further collection of Tomichia hendrickxi (Verdcourt) from the Belgian Congo". Basteria 24: 3.