''Tomichia'' is a
genus of very small
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 which have a
gill and an
operculum,
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 ...
s or
micromollusc
A micromollusk is a shelled mollusk which is extremely small, even at full adult size. The word is usually, but not exclusively, applied to marine mollusks, although in addition, numerous species of land snails and freshwater mollusks also r ...
s in the
family Tomichiidae.
[Rosenberg, G. (2010). ''Tomichia'' Benson, 1851. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=405098 on 2011-04-04]
Distribution
The distribution of the genus ''Tomichia'' includes
South Africa[Kameda Y. & Kato M. (2011). "Terrestrial invasion of pomatiopsid gastropods in the heavy-snow region of the Japanese Archipelago". '' BMC Evolutionary Biology'' 11: 118. .] and Eastern Zaire.
''Tomichia'' is the only genus of Pomatiopsidae in Africa.
Ecology
This genus occurs is both freshwater and brackish water.
There exist
halophilic
The halophiles, named after the Greek word for "salt-loving", are extremophiles that thrive in high salt concentrations. While most halophiles are classified into the domain Archaea, there are also bacterial halophiles and some eukaryotic species, ...
species of ''Tomichia'' which live in
saline lakes
such as ''
Tomichia ventricosa''.
[Brown D. S. (1994). ''Freshwater Snails of Africa and their Medical Importance''. Taylor & Francis. .]
Species
Brown (1994)
recognized 10 species (7 in South Africa and 3 in Central Africa) and one undescribed species. Kameda & Kato (2011)
recognized 11 species of ''Tomichia''.
Species within the genus ''Tomichia'' include:
* ''
Tomichia cawstoni'' Connolly, 1939
* ''
Tomichia differens'' Connolly, 1939
* ''
Tomichia guillemei'' Leloup, 1953
* ''
Tomichia hendrickxi'' (Verdcourt, 1950)
* ''
Tomichia kivuensis'' Mandahl-Barth, 1974
* ''
Tomichia natalensis'' Connolly, 1939
* ''
Tomichia rogersi
''Tomichia rogersi'' is a species of very small freshwater snails which have a gill and an operculum, gastropod mollusks or micromollusks in the family Tomichiidae.
This species is endemic to South Africa
South Africa, officially the ...
'' (Connolly, 1929)
* ''
Tomichia tristis'' (Morelet, 1889)
- critically endangered
[Kristensen T. K., Stensgaard A-S. & Appleton C. (2007)]
''Tomichia tristis''
In: IUCN 2010. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2010.4. . Downloaded on 30 May 2011.
* ''
Tomichia ventricosa'' (Reeve, 1842) - type species
* ''
Tomichia zwellendamensis'' (Küster, 1852)
* (?)''Tomichia'' n.sp. - reported by Cohen (1986) from
Lake Turkana
Lake Turkana (), formerly known as Lake Rudolf, is a lake in the Kenyan Rift Valley, in northern Kenya, with its far northern end crossing into Ethiopia. It is the world's largest permanent desert lake and the world's largest alkaline lake. B ...
References
External links
* Davis G. M. (1981). "Different Modes of Evolution and Adaptive Radiation in the Pomatiopsidae (Prosobranchia: Mesogastropoda)". ''
Malacologia'' 21(1-2)
209262.
* Verdcourt B. (1951). "The distribution of the genus ''Tomichia'' Benson in Africa". ''
Revue de Zoologie et de Botanique Africaines'' 44: 173-174.
* Verdcourt B. (1960). "A further collection of ''Tomichia hendrickxi'' (Verdcourt) from the Belgian Congo". ''
Basteria'' 24: 3.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7818879
Truncatelloidea
Gastropod genera