''Galba neotropica'' is a species of air-breathing

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 ...

, an aquatic

pulmonate Pulmonata or pulmonates, is an informal group (previously an order, and before that a subclass) of snails and slugs characterized by the ability to breathe air, by virtue of having a pallial lung instead of a gill, or gills. The group includ ...

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 in the family Lymnaeidae, the pond snails. This species was described as ''Lymnaea neotropica'' in 2007. However, it belongs to the ''

Galba Galba (; born Servius Sulpicius Galba; 24 December 3 BC – 15 January AD 69) was the sixth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 68 to 69. After his adoption by his stepmother, and before becoming emperor, he was known as Livius Ocella Sulpicius Ga ...

''/''Fossaria'' group, therefore this species is named ''Galba neotropica''. cf.. ''Galba neotropica'' is the vector typically responsible for

fascioliasis Fasciolosis is a helminth, parasitic worm infection caused by the common liver fluke ''Fasciola hepatica'' as well as by ''Fasciola gigantica''. The disease is a plant-borne Trematoda, trematode zoonosis, and is classified as a Neglected tropic ...

(liver fluke) livestock infection.

Distribution

''Galba neotropica'' was originally described from Lima, Peru and surroundings; it appears to be a species restricted to South America, but with a very broad geographical distribution from Argentina in the

Southern Cone The Southern Cone ( es, Cono Sur, pt, Cone Sul) is a geographical and cultural subregion composed of the southernmost areas of South America, mostly south of the Tropic of Capricorn. Traditionally, it covers Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, bou ...

north to Venezuela. The distribution of this species includes: * Peru * Argentina. * Venezuela

Description

The maximum length of the shell of this species is 10.36 mm.

Whorls A whorl ( or ) is an individual circle, oval, volution or equivalent in a whorled pattern, which consists of a spiral or multiple concentric objects (including circles, ovals and arcs). Whorls in nature File:Photograph and axial plane floral d ...

are convex. The columella is slightly curved and unfolded. An examination of tentacles, eyes and colour in living specimens has never performed. In the

radula The radula (, ; plural radulae or radulas) is an anatomical structure used by molluscs for feeding, sometimes compared to a tongue. It is a minutely toothed, chitinous ribbon, which is typically used for scraping or cutting food before the food ...

, the first bilateral teeth are bicuspid but occasionally they are tricuspid or rarely quadricuspid. The praeputium/penis sheath length ratio is 1.10–3.90 mm (mean 2.12–2.70 mm). Two species that have a similar morphology are '' Galba truncatula'' and ''

Galba schirazensis ''Galba schirazensis'' is a species of air-breathing freshwater snail, an aquatic animal, aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Lymnaeidae, the pond snails. Taxonomy This species was originally described by German malacologist Hein ...

''. Although several phenotypic characteristics are somewhat helpful for a preliminary specimen classification, a definitive classification of a specimen can only be obtained by the

sequencing In genetics and biochemistry, sequencing means to determine the primary structure (sometimes incorrectly called the primary sequence) of an unbranched biopolymer. Sequencing results in a symbolic linear depiction known as a sequence which succ ...

of at least one of the

molecular marker A molecular marker is a molecule, sampled from some source, that gives information about its source. For example, DNA is a molecular marker that gives information about the organism from which it was taken. For another example, some proteins can be ...

s used:

ITS-2 Internal transcribed spacer (ITS) is the spacer DNA situated between the small-subunit ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and large-subunit rRNA genes in the chromosome or the corresponding transcribed region in the polycistronic rRNA precursor transcript. ...

ITS-1 Internal transcribed spacer (ITS) is the spacer DNA situated between the small-subunit ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and large-subunit rRNA genes in the chromosome or the corresponding transcribed region in the polycistronic rRNA precursor transcript. I ...

, 16S and

cox1 Cytochrome c oxidase I (COX1) also known as mitochondrially encoded cytochrome c oxidase I (MT-CO1) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''MT-CO1'' gene. In other eukaryotes, the gene is called ''COX1'', ''CO1'', or ''COI''. Cytochro ...

Ecology

''Galba neotropica'' is sometimes amphibious. The habitat of ''Galba neotropica'' rarely also includes artificial water bodies. These snails hatch from eggs. The shape of the egg cluster is rounded to oval when containing few eggs; when the clutch includes more eggs there is lengthening with a slight curving trend. There are about 4–16 eggs in each cluster. Parasites of ''Galba neotropica'' include: * '' Fasciola hepatica''. The transmission capacity of ''Fasciola hepatica'' to humans is low, however, the transmission capacity of ''Fasciola hepatica'' to animals is high.

References

This article incorporates CC-BY-2.0 text from the reference
table 2

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5518176 Lymnaeidae Gastropods described in 2007