Heterobranchia
| Heterobranchia | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Four examples of Heterobranchia | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Clade: |
Heterobranchia J.E. Gray, 1840 |
| Taxonomic subcategories | |
|
informal group Lower Heterobranchia |
|
informal group Lower Heterobranchia
clade Nudipleura
clade Euopisthobranchia
clade Panpulmonata
Heterobranchia, the heterobranchs (meaning "different-gilled snails"), is a taxonomic clade of snails and slugs, which includes marine, aquatic and terrestrial gastropod mollusks.
Heterobranchia is one of the main clades of gastropods. Currently Heterobranchia comprises three informal groups: the Lower Heterobranchia, the Opisthobranchia and the Pulmonata, also known as the lower heterobranchs, the opisthobranchs and the pulmonates.
The three subdivisions of this large clade are quite diverse:
The families currently included in Heterobranchia have historically been placed in many different parts of the taxonomic class of gastropods. Earlier authors (such as J.E. Gray, 1840) considered Heterobranchia to consist of only marine gastropods, and conceptualized it as a borderline category, intermediate between the Opisthobranchia & Pulmonata, and all the other gastropods.
The (sometimes recognized) category Heterostropha within the Heterobranchia, which includes such families as Architectonicidae, the sundial or staircase snails, is primarily characterized by a shell which has a heterostrophic , in other words the apical whorls are coiled in the opposite plane to the adult whorls. The classification of this group was revised by Ponder & Warén in 1988.
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