''Belgrandia varica'' is a
species of minute
freshwater snail
Freshwater snails are gastropod mollusks which live in fresh water. There are many different families. They are found throughout the world in various habitats, ranging from ephemeral pools to the largest lakes, and from small seeps and springs ...
with an
operculum, an
aquatic gastropod
The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda ().
This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...
mollusc
Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...
or
micromollusc
A micromollusk is a shelled mollusk which is extremely small, even at full adult size. The word is usually, but not exclusively, applied to marine mollusks, although in addition, numerous species of land snails and freshwater mollusks also r ...
in the
family Hydrobiidae.
''Belgrandia varica'' was previously considered to be extinct,
[Fontaine B., Bouchet P., Van Achterberg K., Alonso-Zarazaga M. A., Araujo R. et al. (2007). "The European union’s 2010 target: Putting rare species in focus." ''Biological Conservation'' 139: 167-185. Table 2 on the page 173. ]
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however it has been classified as Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct) by
IUCN
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
because it might still be present in a small spring that has been overlooked during previous surveys.
Distribution
This species is
endemic to
France.
References
Further reading
* Falkner G., Ripken T. E. J. & Falkner M. (2002). ''Mollusques Continentaux de la France: Liste de Reference Annotee et Bibliographie''. Museum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris.
External links
*
Hydrobiidae
Belgrandia
Endemic molluscs of Metropolitan France
Gastropods described in 1854
{{Hydrobiidae-stub