Asolene
|
Asolene
|
|
 |
|
Overview Afropomus Asolene Felipponea Lanistes Marisa Pila Pomacea Saulea |
The new world genus Asolene (d'Orbigni, 1837) contains 7 species.
The type species is Asolene platae
(described by Matin, 1809 as Helix platea). In the past, this genus was
considered as a subgenus of Pomacea (Dall, 1904 and Hylton Scott 1943),
but is now recognized as a seperate genus.
Depending of the authority followed, the snails from the genus Asolene
are considered to belong to one genus with 2 sub-genera or to 2 seperated genera:
Asolene (d'Orbigni, 1837) and Pomella (Gray, 1847). What these
apple snails have in common are the medium to short siphon and their internal
anatomy. At the other hand, the eggs in subgenus Asolene are aquatic,
wereas those in Pomella are laid above the water. This observation supports
two seperate genera instead one genus with two subgenera. Another option could
be that Pomella should be added to the Pomacea
genus. So the last word hasn't been said on this topic yet.
The shape and size of these snails differs a lot amongst the two subgenera as
can be seen below.
The Asolene snails inhabit the rivers of Paraguay, Southeastern Brazil,
the region in the Argentina-Brasil border and Uruguay.
Species
|
 Asolene (Asolene) spixi. |
Subgenus Pomella
|
 Asolene (Pomella) megastoma. |
Characteristics of the genus Asolene:
|
Asolene asolene |
Shell: | surface: | smooth or malleated |
Asolene pomella |
| shape: | egg-shaped, globose | |||
| direction: | right (dextral) | |||
| whorls: | round base with flat upper part | |||
| shell-opening (aperture): | round base, pointed top | |||
| umbilicus: | narrow to wide | |||
| colour: | yellow to brown with faint spiral bands | |||
| Operculum: | corneous | |||
| Body: | head (cephalic) tentacles: | medium (less then shell diameter) | ||
| labial tentacles: | medium | |||
| breathing siphon: | short to almost non-existing | |||
| colour: | gray, often with dark patches and/or lighter spots. | |||
| Eggs: | Subgenus Asolene: aquatic Subgenus Pomella: above the waterline |
 |
 |
  Except where otherwise noted, this page is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License . http://www.applesnail.net |
|
