Melanopsidae, common name melanopsids, is a

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

of freshwater gastropods in the clade

Sorbeoconcha Sorbeoconcha is a taxonomic clade of snails, i.e. gastropods, mainly marine species with gills and opercula, within the clade Caenogastropoda. The taxon Sorbeoconcha was named by Winston Ponder and David R. Lindberg in 1997. Taxonomy 1 ...

. Species in this family are native to southern and eastern

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, northern

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 ...

, parts of the

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

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, and freshwater streams of some large South Pacific islands. These snails first appeared in the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', ...

and are closely related to

Potamididae ''Potamididae'', common name potamidids (also known as horn snails or mudwhelks) are a family of small to large brackish water snails that live on mud flats, mangroves and similar habitats. They are amphibious gastropod molluscs in the superfam ...

. As well as unidirectional evolutionary change from one species to the next over time, the process of

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

ization plays a major role in the appearance of new Melanopsidae species.Bandel K. (2000). "Speciation among the Melanopsidae (Caenogastropoda). Special emphasis to the Melanopsidae of the Pannonian Lake at Pontian time (Late Miocene) and the Pleistocene and Recent of Jordan". ''Mitt. Geol.-Paläont. Inst. Univ. Hamburg'', Heft 84. According to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi (2005) the family Melanopsidae has no subfamilies.

Genera

Genera in the family Melanopsidae include: * '' Esperiana'' - synonym: '' Fagotia'' Bourguignat, 1884 * '' Holandriana'' - synonym: '' Amphimelania'' P. Fischer, 1885 ** ''

Holandriana holandrii ''Holandriana'' is a genus 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 slugs from sa ...

'' or '' Amphimelania holandrii'' * † '' Megalonoda'' * '' Melanopsis'' - type genus of the family MelanopsidaeGlöer P. (2002). ''Die Süßwassergastropoden Nord- und Mitteleuropas''. Die Tierwelt Deutschlands, ConchBooks, Hackenheim, 326 pp., , page 190-194. * '' Microcolpia'' * † '' Pseudobellardia'' "Melanopsidae"
The Paleobiology Database, accessed 26 June 2011. * † '' Pseudofagotia'' * † '' Stomatopsis'' * † '' Stilospirula'' - synonyms: ''Stylospirula'' Rovereto, 1899 * † '' Turripontica'' Neubauer, Thomas A. (2017). ''Turripontica'' Anistratenko, 1993 †. In: MolluscaBase (2017). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=820490 on 2017-11-26 * '' Zemelanopsis'' Bandel K. (2006). "Families of the Cerithioidea and related superfamilies (Palaeo-Caenogastropoda; Mollusca) from the Triassic to the Recent characterized by protoconch morphology - including the description of new taxa". ''

Freiberger Forschungshefte The Freiberger, also known as Franches-Montagnes, is a horse breed from Switzerland, from the Jura region, described as either a "heavy warmblood" or a "light coldblood". It was widely used as draft and pack horse in the Swiss army. It ...

'' C 511: 59-138
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** '' Zemelanopsis trifasciata''

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q608015

Genera

References

Further reading

External links