''Paramelania'' 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 ...

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 with an operculum, 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

Paludomidae Paludomidae, common name paludomids, is a family of freshwater snails, gastropod molluscs in the clade Sorbeoconcha. Distribution The distribution of the Paludomidae includes Asia and Africa. Taxonomy The following three subfamilies have be ...

Distribution

Species of the genus ''Paramelania'' live in

Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika () is an African Great Lake. It is the second-oldest freshwater lake in the world, the second-largest by volume, and the second-deepest, in all cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is the world's longest freshwater lake. ...

, Africa.

Species

There are two described species within the genus ''Paramelania'' and there may be more: * '' Paramelania damoni'' (Smith, 1881) - type species, it is a species or an

aggregate species Aggregate or aggregates may refer to: Computing and mathematics * collection of objects that are bound together by a root entity, otherwise known as an aggregate root. The aggregate root guarantees the consistency of changes being made within the ...

* '' Paramelania iridescens'' (Moore, 1898)

Description

The type description of the genus ''Paramelania'' by Edgar Albert Smith (1881) reads as follows:

References

This article incorporates public domain text from the references {{Taxonbar, from=Q7135190 Paludomidae Taxa named by Edgar Albert Smith Gastropod genera Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Snails of Lake Tanganyika