Family LYMNAEIDAE

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Introduction

This worldwide family of freshwater snails prefers mainly slow or non-flowing waters and thrive in eutrophic conditions. A revision of the family by Hubendick (1951) reorganised the many available names of the Australian fauna to three species. This was later restricted to two by Boray & McMichael (1961). Hubendick (1951) referred most of the species in the family to the genus Lymnaea. The present work follows Inaba (1969) in recognising several genera for the family, characterized by distinct shell and anatomical differences and different chromosome numbers and mitotic figures.

Some species of this family are the vectors for the sheep liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica, making the family of major economic importance (Boray, 1998). The potential for exotic species of lymnaeids to be serious disease vectors has been examined by many authors (Boray 1978; Kruglov 1986).

The family is characterized by the thin, fragile, dextrally coiled shell, with wide aperture, a large fleshy foot and wide, triangular tentacles. The animal is dextral, has a simple mantle and lacks a pseudobranch.

General References

Boray, J.C. 1964. Studies on the ecology of Lymnaea tomentosa, the intermediate host of Fasciola hepatica. 1. History, geographical distribution and environment. Australian Journal of Zoology 12: 217-230

Boray, J.C. 1978. The potential impact of exotic Lymnaea spp. on fascioliasis in Australasia. Veterinary Parasitology 4: 127-141

Boray, J.C. 1998. Mollusc and Parasitic diseases. pp. 65-70 in Beesley, P.L., Ross, G.J.B. & Wells, A. (eds). Mollusca: The Southern Synthesis. Fauna of Australia. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing Vol. 5(Part A) pp. xvi, 1-563.

Boray, J.C. & McMichael, D.F. 1961. The identity of the Australian lymnaeid snail host of Fasciola hepatica L. and its response to environment. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 12: 150-162

Hubendick, B. 1951. Recent Lymnaeidae, their variation, morphology, taxonomy, nomenclature and distribution. Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps-Academiens Nya Handlingar, Stockholm 4 3(1): 1-223

Inaba, A. 1969. Cytotaxonomic studies of lymnaeid snails. Malacologia 7: 143-168

Kruglov, N.D. 1986. Snail (Pulmonata, Lymnaeidae) specificity to infestation by trematode parthenites and the analysis of this specificity for taxonomy and parasitology. Zoologicheskii Zhurnal 65(112): 1799-1807

Stanisic, J. 1998. Family Lymnaeidae. pp. 1069-1071 in Beesley, P.L., Ross, G.J.B. & Wells, A. (eds). Mollusca: The Southern Synthesis. Fauna of Australia. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing Vol. 5(Part B) pp. vi–viii, 565–1234.

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