''Prestonella nuptialis'' 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 air-breathing

land snail A land snail is any of the numerous species of snail that live on land, as opposed to the sea snails and freshwater snails. ''Land snail'' is the common name for terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have shells (those without shells are known as ...

, a

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...

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 ...

mollusc 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 esti ...

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 ...

Bothriembryontidae Bothriembryontidae is a family of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Orthalicoidea. Taxonomy This family has been named Placostylidae and had no subfamilies (according to the taxonomy of th ...

. It was previously classified within Prestonellidae. cf.Herbert D. G. & Mitchell A. (2008). "Phylogenetic relationships of the enigmatic land snail genus ''Prestonella'': the missing African element in the Gondwanan superfamily Orthalicoidea (Mollusca: Stylommatophora)". ''

Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society The ''Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering zoology published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Linnean Society. The editor-in-chief is Maarten Christenhusz (Linnean Society). ...

'' 96(1): 203-221. .

Distribution

This species is endemic to

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

,Govender V. (2007). "Patterns of Distribution, Diversity and Endemism of Terrestrial Molluscs in South Africa". Thesis. School of Biological and Conservation Sciences,

University of KwaZulu-Natal The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) is a university with five campuses in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. It was formed on 1 January 2004 after the merger between the University of Natal and the University of Durban-Westville. ...

. 219 pp
PDF

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

.Breure B. (23 February 2008
"The extended family"
''Bram's Snail Site'', accessed 7 April 2011.Herbert D. G. (2007). "Revision of the genus ''Prestonella'' (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Orthalicoidea: Bulimulidae s. l.), a distinctive component of the African land snail fauna". ''

African Invertebrates ''African Invertebrates'' is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal that covers the taxonomy, systematics, biogeography, ecology, conservation, and palaeontology of Afrotropical invertebrates, whether terrestrial, freshwater, or marine. I ...

'' 48(2): 1-19
abstract
. The type locality is Craigie Burn,

Somerset East Somerset East ( af, Somerset-Oos) is a town in the Blue Crane Route Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It was founded by Lord Charles Somerset in 1825. The Blue Crane Route follows the national road R63 from Pearston, via Som ...

, South Africa.

Description

''Prestonella nuptialis'' was described by two British malacologists

James Cosmo Melvill Sir James Cosmo Melvill (8 June 1792 – 23 July 1861) was a British administrator who served as the last secretary of the East India Company. Life Born at Guernsey, he was the third but eldest surviving son of Philip Melvill (1762–1811), ...

(1845-1929) and John Henry Ponsonby-Fane (1848-1916) in 1894. The type description reads in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and the English language as follows: The width of the shell of the type species is 8.5 mm. The height of the shell is 15 mm.

References

This article incorporates public domain text from the reference

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q7242042 Endemic fauna of South Africa Bothriembryontidae Gastropods described in 1894