''Schizoglossa'',
common name the
Paua slugs, is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
of medium-sized to large
predatory
Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...
, air-breathing, land
slugs,
carnivorous 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 gastropod molluscs in the family
Rhytididae
Rhytididae is a taxonomic family of medium-sized predatory air-breathing land snails, carnivorous terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Rhytidoidea. MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Rhytididae Pilsbry, 1893. Acces ...
. They are currently classified by the
New Zealand Department of Conservation
The Department of Conservation (DOC; Māori: ''Te Papa Atawhai'') is the public service department of New Zealand charged with the conservation of New Zealand's natural and historical heritage.
An advisory body, the New Zealand Conservation Au ...
as Nationally Vulnerable.
Distribution
The genus is endemic to the
North Island of
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 ...
(including the
Great Barrier Island
Great Barrier Island ( mi, Aotea) lies in the outer Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand, north-east of central Auckland. With an area of it is the sixth-largest island of New Zealand and fourth-largest in the main chain. Its highest point, Mount Hobson ...
),
Species and subspecies
Species and subspecies within the genus ''Schizoglossa'' include:
New Zealand Mollusca
/ref>
* '' Schizoglossa gigantea'' Powell, 1930
* '' Schizoglossa major'' Powell, 1938 - subfossil only
*'' Schizoglossa novoseelandica'' ( Pfeiffer, 1862)
** ''Schizoglossa novoseelandica novoseelandica'' ( Pfeiffer, 1862)
** ''Schizoglossa novoseelandica barrierensis'' Powell, 1949
* '' Schizoglossa worthyae'' Powell, 1949
Description
The shell
Shell may refer to:
Architecture and design
* Shell (structure), a thin structure
** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses
** Thin-shell structure
Science Biology
* Seashell, a hard o ...
is small, rudimentary, auriform (ear-shaped) and is situated far back on the animal. The shell is incapable of containing the body, and is reduced to the function of a shield for the lungs and heart. The shell is paucispiral, and is nacreous within. The columella
Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (; Arabic: , 4 – ) was a prominent writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire.
His ' in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture, together with the wo ...
is excavated into a pit for the reception of the shell-muscle.
Ecology
''Schizoglossa'' has eggs with a calcareous surface which lacks cuticle.[ O'Connor A. C. (June) 1945. ''Notes on the Eggs of New Zealand Paryphantidae, With Description of a New Subgenus.'' Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand, volume 5, 1945-46, page]
54
57.
References
This article incorporates public domain text from reference.
Further reading
* Powell A. W. B. (1949) "The Paryphantidae of New Zealand. No. VI. Distribution, hybrids and new species of ''Paryphanta'', ''Rhytida'' and ''Schizoglossa''". '' Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum 3: 347-367.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3074212
Rhytididae