''Bullastra'' is a genus of large-sized, globose

snails A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gastrop ...

in the family

Lymnaeidae Lymnaeidae, common name the pond snails, is a taxonomic family of small to large air-breathing freshwater snails, aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusks, that belong to the clade Hygrophila. Lymnaeidae is the only family within the superfamily ...

. Snails in this genus have large apertures and fleshy, triangular

tentacles In zoology, a tentacle is a flexible, mobile, and elongated organ present in some species of animals, most of them invertebrates. In animal anatomy, tentacles usually occur in one or more pairs. Anatomically, the tentacles of animals work main ...

. This genus is similar to Austropeplea but differs in generally being larger and having a distinctive twist in the

columella Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (; Arabic: , 4 – ) was a prominent writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire. His ' in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture, together with the wo ...

Distribution and habitat

Bullastra are found in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and on mainland

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. They are fully aquatic, living in smaller bodies of water, such as

ponds A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from th ...

and

streams A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...

Species

The genus ''Bullastra'' contains the following 4 species: * '' Bullastra brevispira'' (Martens, 1897) * ''

Bullastra cumingiana ''Bullastra'' is a genus of large-sized, globose snails in the family Lymnaeidae. Snails in this genus have large apertures and fleshy, triangular tentacles. This genus is similar to Austropeplea but differs in generally being larger and having ...

'' (Pfeiffer, 1855) * '' Bullastra vinosa'' (Adams and Angas, 1864) * '' Bullastra lessoni'' (Deshayes, 1830) Type species: ''Bullastra velutinoides'' Bergh, 1901 (=''

'' (Pfeiffer, 1855))

References

Lymnaeidae {{lymnaeidae-stub