Placostylus

Placostylus
Placostylus fibratus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Stylommatophora
Family: Bothriembryontidae
Subfamily: Placostylinae
Genus: Placostylus
Beck, 1837
Type species
Limax fibratus
Martyn, 1784
Synonyms
  • Bulimus (Placostylus) H. Beck, 1837 (original rank)
  • Maoristylus F. Haas, 1935
  • Placostylus (Maoristylus) Haas, 1935

Placostylus, or flax snails, are a genus of very large, air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the family Bothriembryontidae.

The shells of the snails in this genus can be as large as 4.5 inches (11 cm) in maximum dimension.

Many species within this genus are now extinct.

Taxonomy

Placostylus is the type genus of the family Placostylidae. It was placed within Placostylidae.

Breure et al. (2010) moved Prestonella and Bothriembryon to Placostylidae. Subsequently, Breure & Romero (2012) confirmed previous results from 2010 and they renamed Placostylidae to Bothriembryontidae.

Distribution

This genus of snails occurs in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji, Lord Howe Island, and Northland in New Zealand. There are three species in New Zealand and no subspecies.

Species

In former classification, two subgenera were recognized: subgenus Basileostylus Haas, 1935 subgenus Maoristylus Haas, 1935

Species within this genus include:

Synonyms

References

  1. ↑ Beck H. H. (1837). Index Moll. Mus. Ch. Fred. (1): 57.
  2. 1 2 Placostylus H. Beck, 1837. 7 December 2025. Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species.
  3. 1 2 3 Breure A. S. H. & Romero P. (2012). "Support and surprises: molecular phylogeny of the land snail superfamily Orthalicoidea using a three-locus gene analysis with a divergence time analysis and ancestral area reconstruction (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora)". Archiv für Molluskenkunde: International Journal of Malacology 141(1): 1-20. doi:10.1127/arch.moll/1869-0963/141/001-020.
  4. 1 2 Bouchet, Philippe; Rocroi, Jean-Pierre; Frýda, Jiri; Hausdorf, Bernard; Ponder, Winston; Valdés, Ángel & Warén, Anders (2005). "Classification and nomenclator of gastropod families". Malacologia. 47 (1–2). Hackenheim, Germany: ConchBooks: 1–397. ISBN 3-925919-72-4. ISSN 0076-2997.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: periodical has ISBN (link)
  5. ↑ Breure A. S. H., Groenenberg D. S. J. & Schilthuizen M. (2010). "New insights in the phylogenetic relations within the Orthalicoidea (Gastropoda, Stylommatophora) based on 28S sequence data". Basteria 74(1-3): 25-31.
  6. 1 2 Buckley T. R., Stringer I., Gleeson D., Howitt R., Attanayake D., Parrish R., Sherley G. & Rohan M. (2011). "A revision of the New Zealand Placostylus land snails using mitochondrial DNA and shell morphometric analyses, with implications for conservation". New Zealand Journal of Zoology 38(1): 55-81. doi:10.1080/03014223.2010.527997.
  7. ↑ Haas (1935). Zool. Anz. 109: 189.
  8. 1 2 3 "Class Gastropoda". New Zealand Mollusca, accessed 26 December 2010.
  9. ↑ Haas (1935). Zool. Anz. 109: 188.
  10. ↑ ICZN (1992). "Opinion 1662. Limax fibratus Martyn, 1784 and Nerita hebraea Martyn, 1786 (currently Placostylus fibratus and Nerita hebraea; Mollusca, Gastropoda): specific names conserved; and Placostylus Beck, 1837; L. fibratus designated as the type species". Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 49: 74-75.