''Xeroplexa'' 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 small, 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 ...

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 ...

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 subfamily Helicellinae of the family

Geomitridae Geomitridae is a Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic Family (biology), family of small to medium-sized air-breathing land snails, Terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Helicoidea.MolluscaBase eds. (2021). M ...

, the hairy snails and their allies. MolluscaBase eds. (2022). MolluscaBase. Xeroplexa Monterosato, 1892. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=999573 on 2022-07-30 ''Xeroplexa'' species were within genus '' Candidula'' until a molecular phylogeny revealed the

polyphyly A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of converg ...

of '' Candidula'', and the genus ''Xeroplexa'' Monterosato, 1892 was recovered.

Distribution

The genus is mainly distributed along western Iberian Peninsula, although ''X. intersecta'' spreads from northern

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...

and

British Islands The British Islands is a term within the law of the United Kingdom which refers collectively to the following four polities: * the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (formerly the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland); ...

Species

Species within the genus ''Xeroplexa'' include: * '' Xeroplexa arrabidensis'' (Holyoak & Holyoak, 2014) * '' Xeroplexa belemensis'' (Servain, 1880) * '' Xeroplexa carrapateirensis'' (Holyoak & Holyoak, 2014) * '' Xeroplexa coudensis'' (Holyoak & Holyoak, 2010) * '' Xeroplexa intersecta'' (

Poiret Poiret is a French language surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Jean Poiret, French author * Jean Louis Georges Poiret, former Lieutenant-Governor of Guinea *Jean Louis Marie Poiret, French clergyman, botanist, and explorer * Jeanne ...

, 1801) * '' Xeroplexa olisippensis'' (Servain, 1880) * '' Xeroplexa ponsulensis'' (Holyoak & Holyoak, 2014) * '' Xeroplexa scabiosula'' (Locard, 1899) * '' Xeroplexa setubalensis'' ( Pfeiffer, 1850)

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

*'' Xeroplexa strucki'' (Maltzan, 1886)

References

* Kobelt, W. (1892). Literaturbericht. Nachrichtsblatt der Deutschen Malakozoologischen Gesellschaft, 24 (7/8): 149-152. Frankfurt am Main * Bank, R. A. (2017). Classification of the Recent terrestrial Gastropoda of the World. Last update: July 16th, 2017

External links

* http://luisjavierchueca.com/research-3/candidula-s-l/ Geomitridae {{Geomitridae-stub