''Bulinus'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of small

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

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 ...

s, 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 ...

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

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Bulinidae Bulinidae is a Family (biology), family of gastropods in the superfamily LymnaeoideaMolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Bulinidae P. Fischer & Crosse, 1880. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/a ...

, the ramshorn snails and their allies. MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Bulinus O. F. Müller, 1781. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=224352 on 2020-06-27 This genus is medically important because several species of ''Bulinus'' function as intermediate

hosts A host is a person responsible for guests at an event or for providing hospitality during it. Host may also refer to: Places *Host, Pennsylvania, a village in Berks County People *Jim Host (born 1937), American businessman *Michel Host ( ...

for the

schistosomiasis Schistosomiasis, also known as snail fever, bilharzia, and Katayama fever, is a disease caused by parasitic flatworms called schistosomes. The urinary tract or the intestines may be infected. Symptoms include abdominal pain, diarrhea, bloody s ...

blood

fluke Fluke may refer to: Biology * Fluke (fish), a species of marine flatfish * Fluke (tail), the lobes of the tail of a cetacean, such as dolphins or whales, ichthyosaurs, mosasaurs Mosasaurs (from Latin ''Mosa'' meaning the 'Meuse', and Greek ...

Taxonomy

Miocene genus ''Kosovia'' was synonymized ''Bulinus'' in 2017.

Distribution

These snails are widespread in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

including

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

. This genus has not yet become established in the USA, but it is considered to represent a potentially serious threat as a

pest Pest or The Pest may refer to: Science and medicine * Pest (organism), an animal or plant deemed to be detrimental to humans or human concerns ** Weed, a plant considered undesirable * Infectious disease, an illness resulting from an infection ** ...

, an

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

which could negatively affect agriculture, natural ecosystems, human health or commerce. Therefore it has been suggested that this species be given top national

quarantine A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have been ...

significance in the USA.

Shell description

The shell of species in the genus ''Bulinus'' is sinistral. It has a very large body whorl and a small spire.

Species

Species within the genus ''Bulinus'' have been placed into four species groups: the ''Bulinus africanus'' group, ''Bulinus forskalii'' group, ''Bulinus reticulatus'' group and the ''Bulinus truncatus/tropicus'' complex. For the most part, species have been classified on the basis of their morphology although, in recent decades, the study of

ploidy Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell (biology), cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for Autosome, autosomal and Pseudoautosomal region, pseudoautosomal genes. Sets of chromosomes refer to the number of mat ...

allozymes Alloenzymes (or also called allozymes) are variant forms of an enzyme which differ structurally but not functionally from other allozymes coded for by different alleles at the same locus. These are opposed to isozymes, which are enzymes that perfo ...

and DNA methods have all played an increasing role in species discrimination. Morphological characters, whilst adequate to allocate a specimen to a species group are sometimes unreliable when used to classify at higher resolution especially within the ''Bulinus africanus'' group. There are 37''Characterisation of Bulinus''
. Accessed 31 December 2008. (or 38 species when the '' Bulinus mutandensis'' is recognized as a separate species) species within the genus ''Bulinus'' including: ''Bulinus africanus'' group - 10 species * '' Bulinus abyssinicus'' (Martens, 1866)Brown D. S. (1994). ''Freshwater Snails of Africa and their Medical Importance''.

Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in England that publishes books and academic journals. Its parts include Taylor & Francis, Routledge, F1000 (publisher), F1000 Research or Dovepress. It is a division of Informa ...

. * '' Bulinus africanus'' (Krauss, 1848) * '' Bulinus globosus'' (Morelet, 1866) * '' Bulinus hightoni'' Brown & Wright, 1978 * '' Bulinus jousseaumei'' (Dautzenberg, 1890) * ''

Bulinus nasutus ''Bulinus nasutus'' is a species of tropical freshwater snail with a sinistral shell, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Planorbidae, the ramshorn snails and their allies. Subspecies * ''Bulinus nasutus nasutus'' * ''Bulinus nasutu ...

'' (Martens, 1879) * ''

Bulinus obtusispira ''Bulinus obtusispira'' is a species of a tropical freshwater snail with a sinistral shell, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Planorbidae, the ramshorn snails and their allies. Distribution The type locality is about 32 km far ...

'' (Smith, 1882) * '' Bulinus obtusus'' Mandahl-Barth, 1973 * '' Bulinus ugandae'' Mandahl-Barth, 1954 * ''

Bulinus umbilicatus ''Bulinus'' is a genus of small tropical freshwater snails, aquatic animal, aquatic gastropod mollusks in the family (biology), family Bulinidae, the ramshorn snails and their allies. MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Bulinus O. F. Mülle ...

'' Mandahl-Barth, 1973 ''Bulinus forskalii'' group - 11 species * '' Bulinus barthi'' Jelnes, 1979 * '' Bulinus bavayi'' (Dautzenberg, 1894) * '' Bulinus beccarii'' (Paladilhe, 1872) * '' Bulinus browni'' Jelnes, 1979 * ''

Bulinus camerunensis ''Bulinus camerunensis'' is a species of small air-breathing freshwater snail with a sinistral shell, an aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Planorbidae, the ramshorn snails and their allies. This species is endemic to Lake Barom ...

'' Mandahl-Barth, 1957 * '' Bulinus canescens'' (Morelet, 1868) * '' Bulinus cernicus'' (Morelet, 1867) * '' Bulinus crystallinus'' (Morelet, 1868) * ''

Bulinus forskalii ''Bulinus forskalii'' is a species of tropical freshwater snail with a sinistral shell, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Bulinidae, the ramshorn snails and their allies.MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Bulinus forskalii (Ehr ...

'' (Ehrenberg, 1831) * '' Bulinus scalaris'' (Dunker, 1845) * ''

Bulinus senegalensis ''Bulinus senegalensis'' is a species of gastropods 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 sl ...

'' Müller, 1781 - the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

of the genus ''Bulinus reticulatus'' group - 2 species * '' Bulinus reticulatus'' Mandahl-Barth, 1954 * '' Bulinus wrighti'' Mandahl-Barth, 1965 ''Bulinus truncatus/tropicus'' complex - 14-15 species * '' Bulinus angolensis'' (Morelet, 1866) * '' Bulinus depressus'' Haas, 1936 * ''

Bulinus hexaploidus ''Bulinus hexaploidus'' is a species of freshwater snail, a gastropod in the Planorbidae family. It is endemic to Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the ...

'' Burch, 1972 * ''

Bulinus liratus ''Bulinus'' is a genus of small tropical freshwater snails, aquatic gastropod mollusks in the family Bulinidae, the ramshorn snails and their allies. MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Bulinus O. F. Müller, 1781. Accessed through: World ...

'' (Tristram, 1863) * '' Bulinus mutandensis'' Preston, 1913 * '' Bulinus natalensis'' (Küster, 1841)Curtis B., Jørgensen A., Kristensen T. K., Stensgaard A-S. & Van Damme D. (2009)
''Bulinus natalensis''
In: IUCN 2010. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2010.4. . Retrieved 3 December 2010. * ''

Bulinus nyassanus ''Bulinus nyassanus'' is a species of small air-breathing freshwater snail with a sinistral shell, an aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Planorbidae, the ramshorn snails and their allies. This species is endemic to Lake Malawi in ...

'' (E. A. Smith, 1877) * '' Bulinus octoploidus'' Burch, 1972 * '' Bulinus permembranaceus'' (Preston, 1912) * '' Bulinus succinoides'' (E. A. Smith, 1877) * '' Bulinus transversalis'' (Martens, 1897) * ''

Bulinus trigonus ''Bulinus'' is a genus of small tropical freshwater snails, aquatic animal, aquatic gastropod mollusks in the family (biology), family Bulinidae, the ramshorn snails and their allies. MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Bulinus O. F. Mülle ...

'' (Martens, 1892) * '' Bulinus tropicus'' (Krauss, 1848) * ''

Bulinus truncatus ''Bulinus truncatus'' is a species of air-breathing freshwater snail with a sinistral shell, an aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the subfamily Bulininae of the family Bulinidae, the ram's horn snails and the like. MolluscaBase eds. (2 ...

'' (Audouin, 1827) * '' Bulinus yemenensis'' Paggi et al., 1978 other * '' Bulinus rubellus'' Broderip 1832 * † '' Bulinus bouei'' (Pavlović, 1931) - from late Miocene * † '' Bulinus corici'' Harzhauser & Neubauer in Harzhauser et al., 2012 - from middle Miocene * † '' Bulinus matejici'' (Pavlović, 1931) - from middle Miocene * † '' Bulinus ornatus'' (Pavlović, 1931) - from late Miocene * † '' Bulinus pavlovici'' (Atanacković, 1959) - from late Miocene * † '' Bulinus stevanovici'' (Atanacković, 1959) - late Miocene * † '' Bulinus striatus'' (Milošević, 1978) - late Miocene

References

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External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q291487