Euthyneura is a

taxonomic Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

infraclass In biological classification, class ( la, classis) is a taxonomic rank, as well as a taxonomic unit, a taxon, in that rank. It is a group of related taxonomic orders. Other well-known ranks in descending order of size are life, domain, kingdom ...

snail 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 Gastro ...

s and

slugs Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word ''slug'' is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced shell, or only a smal ...

, which includes species exclusively from

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

, aquatic and

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...

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 ...

mollusk 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 e ...

s in the clade

Heterobranchia 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. Curr ...

. Euthyneura are characterised by several

autapomorphies In phylogenetics, an autapomorphy is a distinctive feature, known as a derived trait, that is unique to a given taxon. That is, it is found only in one taxon, but not found in any others or outgroup taxa, not even those most closely related to t ...

, but are named for euthyneury. They are considered to be the most successful and diverse group of Gastropoda. Within this taxon, the Gastropoda have reached their peak in

species richness Species richness is the number of different species represented in an ecological community, landscape or region. Species richness is simply a count of species, and it does not take into account the abundances of the species or their relative a ...

and

ecological diversity Ecosystem diversity deals with the variations in ecosystems within a geographical location and its overall impact on human existence and the environment. Ecosystem diversity addresses the combined characteristics of biotic properties (biodiver ...

. This obvious evolutionary success can probably be attributed to several factors. Marine Opisthobranchia, e.g., have evolved several clades specialised on less used food resources such as sponges or cnidarians. A key innovation in the evolution of Pulmonata was the colonization of freshwater and terrestrial habitats.Klussmann-Kolb A., Dinapoli A., Kuhn K., Streit B. & Albrecht C. (2008). "From sea to land and beyond – New insights into the evolution of euthyneuran Gastropoda (Mollusca)". ''

BMC Evolutionary Biology ''BMC Ecology and Evolution'' (since January 2021), previously ''BMC Evolutionary Biology'' (2001–2020), is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal covering all fields of evolutionary biology, including phylogenetics and palaeontology. It ...

'' 2008, 8: 57. . Various phylogenetic studies focused on Euthyneura: Dayrat et al. (2001), Dayrat & Tillier (2002) and Grande ''et al.'' (2004). Morphological analyses by Dayrat and Tillier (2002)Dayrat B. & Tillier S. (2002). "Evolutionary relationships of euthyneuran gastropods (Mollusca): a cladistic re-evaluation of morphological characters". ''

Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society The ''Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering zoology published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Linnean Society. The editor-in-chief is Maarten Christenhusz (Linnean Society). ...

'' 135(4): 403-470. demonstrated the need to explore new datasets in order to critically analyse the phylogeny of this controversial group of gastropods. Klussmann-Kolb ''et al.'' (2008) traced an evolutionary scenario regarding colonisation of different habitats based on phylogenetic hypothesis and they showed that traditional classification of Euthyneura needs to be reconsidered.

2010 taxonomy

Jörger ''et al.'' (2010)Jörger K. M., Stöger I., Kano Y., Fukuda H., Knebelsberger T. & Schrödl M. (2010). "On the origin of Acochlidia and other enigmatic euthyneuran gastropods, with implications for the systematics of Heterobranchia". ''

'' 10: 323. . have redefined major groups within the Heterobranchia and a

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to d ...

showing phylogenic relations of Euthyneura is as follows:

2014 taxonomy

Cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to d ...

showing phylogenic relations of Euthyneura ''sensu'' Wägele et al. (2014):Wägele H., Klussmann-Kolb A., Verbeek E. & Schrödl M. (2014). "Flashback and foreshadowing—a review of the taxon Opisthobranchia". ''

Organisms Diversity & Evolution In biology, an organism () is any living system that functions as an individual entity. All organisms are composed of cells (cell theory). Organisms are classified by taxonomy into groups such as multicellular animals, plants, and fungi; ...

'' 14(1): 133–149.

2016 taxonomy

Kano et al. (2016) proposed a new taxon Ringipleura and classified

Ringiculoidea Ringiculidae are a family of minute deep water sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks or micromollusks in the informal group Lower Heterobranchia.Bouchet P. & Rocroi J.-P. (Ed.); Frýda J., Hausdorf B., Ponder W., Valdes A. & Warén A. 2005. ''Cla ...

as sister group to

Nudipleura Nudipleura are a clade of sea snails and sea slugs, marine gastropod mollusks within the large clade Heterobranchia. Taxonomy 2005 taxonomy In the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005), the clade Nudipleura is arranged as follows: *Clade Nu ...

References

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External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5361179 Protostome unranked clades