''Mercuria similis'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of small

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...

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 ...

with an operculum, an 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 ...

in the family Hydrobiidae. This species only tolerates very low salinities, and is perhaps better characterized as a freshwater snail.

Description

The 3–4 mm. high shell is fragile and translucent yellow-white in colour (but often coated with dark deposits). The animal is entirely and uniformly pale and has pale tentacles. ''Mercuria similis'' has a proportionately larger body whorl than other hydrobiids. The shell is short-conical and 3.90–4.50 mm high (Vic-la-Gardiole,

Hérault Hérault (; oc, Erau, ) is a department of the region of Occitania, Southern France. Named after the Hérault River, its prefecture is Montpellier. It had a population of 1,175,623 in 2019.France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

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Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

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and

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

. *

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Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

References

*Peter Glöer, Hans D. Boeters, Frank Walther Species of the genus ''Mercuria'' Boeters, 1971 (Caenogastropoda: Truncatelloidea: Hydrobiidae) from the European Mediterranean region, Morocco and Madeira, with descriptions of new species ''Folia Malacologica'' 11/2015; 23(4). DOI: 10.12657/folmal.023.02
online
Description, images

External links

*
MolluscIreland
Hydrobiidae Gastropods described in 1805 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Hydrobiidae-stub