Melanopsis

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Melanopsis
Temporal range: Cretaceous–recent
A live Melanopsis praemorsa
Five views of a shell of Melanopsis buccinoidea
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Family: Melanopsidae
Genus: Melanopsis
Férussac, 1807[1]
Synonyms[2]
  • Boistelia Cossmann, 1909
  • Lyrcaea Adams & Adams, 1854 † (junior synonym; misspelling (pro Lyrcea))
  • Lyrcea H. Adams & A. Adams, 1854
  • Macrospira F. Sandberger, 1872 (invalid: junior homonym of Macrospira Swainson, 1840; Melanoptychia is a replacement name)
  • Melanopsis (Canthidomus) Swainson, 1840
  • Melanopsis (Homalia) Handmann, 1887 (junior homonym of Homalia Eschscholtz, 1831; junior synonym)
  • Melanopsis (Lyrcaea) Adams & Adams, 1854 (junior synonym; misspelling (pro Lyrcea))
  • Melanopsis (Lyrcea) Adams & Adams, 1854
  • Melanopsis (Martinia) Handmann, 1887 (junior homonym of Martinia M'Coy, 1844; junior synonym)
  • Melanopsis (Melanopsis) Férussac, 1807
  • Melanopsis (Melanoptychia) Neumayr, 1880
  • Melanoptychia Neumayr, 1880

Melanopsis is a genus of freshwater snails with a gill and an operculum, aquatic gastropod mollusks in the family Melanopsidae.[2]

The genus first appeared in the Cretaceous.[3]

Melanopsis is the type genus of the family Melanopsidae.[4]

These snails are found in southern Europe, North Africa, Asia Minor, New Caledonia and New Zealand.[5]

Description

Their shells are ovate, with a short spire, and a large elongated body whorl. The outer lip of the aperture is thin, but the inner lip has a smooth parietal callus, thickened into a pad over the parietal wall.[5]

Species

References

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