''Wainuia'' 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 ...

of air-breathing

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

s 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 ...

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. Accessed ...

. Species in this genus occur in

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 ...

. Powell A. W. B., ''New Zealand Mollusca'', William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979

Description

The width of the shell of ''Wainuia'' is 21–38 mm.Efford M., Howitt R. & Gleeson D. 2002
''Phylogenetic relationships of Wainuia (Mollusca: Pulmonata)—biogeography and conservation implications''
Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 32, Number 3, September 2002, 445–456.

Species

Species within the genus ''Wainuia'' include: * '' Wainuia clarki'' ( Powell, 1936),

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

* '' Wainuia edwardi'' ( Suter, 1899),

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

* '' Wainuia fallai'' ( Powell, 1946),

* '' Wainuia urnula'' ** ''Wainuia urnula urnula'' ( Pfeiffer, 1855),

** ''

Wainuia urnula nasuta ''Wainuia urnula'' is a species of air-breathing predatory land snail, a terrestrial animal, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family (biology), family Rhytididae. Distribution and description This species inhabits the North Islan ...

'' ( Powell, 1946),

D'Urville Island D'Urville Island (), Māori language, Māori name ' ('red heavens look to the south'), is an island in the Marlborough Sounds along the northern coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It was named after the France, French List of explorers, ...

Ecology

Species of the genus ''Wainuia'' are carnivorous. ''Wainuia'' have 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

New Zealand Department of Conservation

Description

Species

Ecology

References

Further reading