Trochulus
Display parents2
TaxonTrochulus
AuthorityChemnitz, 1786[1]
SynonymsTrichia Hartmann, 1840[2]

Trochulus is a genus of small air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the subfamily Trochulininae of the family Hygromiidae, the hairy snails and their allies.

Taxonomy

Trichia Hartmann, 1840[2] is a junior synonym of Trochulus Chemnitz, 1786,[3] meaning the name was published after Trochulus to describe the same group of organisms. As such, Trochulus is considered the valid name, but nearly every malacological work prior to 2006 referred to the genus as Trichia.

The genus Plicuteria Schileyko, 1978 has been once recognized as a subgenus within Trochulus by Schileyko (1978).[4] Based on molecular analyses, Trochulus lubomirski does not belong to the genus Trochulus.[5] Trochulus lubomirski (Ślósarski, 1881) is now recognized as Plicuteria lubomirskii (Ślósarski, 1881).

Species

The speciation centre for the genus Trochulus is in the Alps.[6]

The type species of this genus is Trochulus hispidus.

Species within the genus Trochulus include:[7][8]

Species brought into synonymy

Hair on shells

Most Trochulus species have hair-like features on their periostracum (the outermost layer of the shell). Some of the hair-less species still have hairs as juveniles. Hairy shells seemed to be the ancestral character shared by all members within the genus, and the feature was probably lost three times independently later.

These losses were correlated with a shift from humid to dry habitats, hinting at an adaptive function: the hypothesis was that these hair-like protein structures improve movement in moist habitats. In 2005, experiments by Pfenninger and colleagues showed that haired shells attached more easily to wet surfaces. Snails could better cling to their herbaceous food plants during foraging under high humidity levels. The absence of hairs in some Trochulus species, which consequently lose this potential adaptive function, could then be linked to habitat shifts toward drier environments.[5]

Feeding habits

Trochulus species in moist habitats prefer to forage on large-leaved herbaceous plants like Adenostyles, Urtica (nettles), Homogyne or Tussilago (e.g., coltsfoot).[5]

References

This article incorporates CC-BY-2.0 text from reference.[5]

  1. ^ (in German) Chemnitz J. H. (1786) Neues systematisches Conchylien-Cabinet. Neunten Bandes zwote Abtheilung, enthaltend die ausführliche Beschreibung von den Land- und Flußschnecken, oder von solchen Conchylien, welche nicht im Meere, sondern auf der Erde und in süssen Wassern zu leben pflegen. Mit zwanzig nach der Natur gemalten und durch lebendige Farben erleuchteten Kupfertafeln. pp. I-XXVI [= 1-26], 1-194, Tab. 117-136. Nürnberg. (Raspe).
  2. ^ (in German) Hartmann J. D. W. (1844) Erd- und Süsswasser-Gasteropoden der Schweiz. Mit Zugabe einiger merkwürdigen exotischen Arten. I. Band. pp. i-xx [= 1-20], 1-227, Tab. I-XII [= 1-12], I-XII [sic, = 13-24], 25-84. St. Gallen. (Scheitlin & Zollikofer).
  3. ^ (30 September 2004) ICZN Opinion 2079 Archived 2008-05-17 at the Wayback Machine. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 61(3).
  4. ^ Schileyko A. A. (February 1978) "On the systematics of Trichia s. lat. (Pulmonata: Helicoidea: Hygromiidae)". Malacologia 17(1): 1-56.
  5. ^ Pfenninger, Markus; Hrabáková, Magda; Steinke, Dirk; Dèpraz, Aline (2005). "Why do snails have hairs? A Bayesian inference of character evolution". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 5 (1): 59. Bibcode:2005BMCEE...5...59P. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-5-59. PMC 1310604. PMID 16271138
  6. ^ (in Czech) Hrabáková M., Juřičková L. & Petrusek A. (2006) "Problematika rodu Trochulus (Mollusca, Gastropoda) v České republice". In: Bryja J. & Zukal J. (eds.) 2006. Zoologické dny Brno 2006. Sborník abstraktů z konference 9.-10. února. ISBN 80-903329-4-3, 268 pp., pages 42-43.
  7. ^ Species in genus Trochulus. AnimalBase. Accessed 29 December 2008.
  8. ^ Trichia. Fauna Europaea, accessed 2 December 2009.
  9. ^ Trichia (Trichia) glypta. Molluscs of central Europe, accessed 2 December 2009.
  10. ^ Proćków, Małgorzata; Kuźnik-Kowalska, Elżbieta; Mackiewicz, Paweł (2017-08-01). "Phenotypic plasticity can explain evolution of sympatric polymorphism in the hairy snail Trochulus hispidus (Linnaeus, 1758)". Current Zoology. 63 (4): 389–402. doi:10.1093/cz/zow082. ISSN 1674-5507. PMC 5804198. PMID 29491999

Further reading