Family THIARIDAE
Compiler and date details
December 2012 - Peter U. Middelfart, Winston F. Ponder & Des Beechey, Australian Museum, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Introduction
Members of this freshwater cerithioidean family (Caenogastropoda), the Thiariidae (= Melaniidae) mostly have elongate shells of medium to large size. In this respect they closely resemble Pachychilidae, but differ in having a papillate (not smooth) mantle edge, a paucispiral operculum (rather than multispiral), broader central radular teeth and a number of anatomical differences (Glaubrecht & Rintelen 2003). The separation of these two groups, and others previously included with thiarids, is also strongly supported by morphological (Glaubrecht 1996, 1999, 2000 and Glaubrecht, unpubl. data) and molecular evidence (Lydeard et al. 2002). All thiarids are viviparous. Thiarids are found in many parts of the world in temperate, subtropical and tropical regions. Most species are found in freshwater, with a few able to tolerate brackish water. Some species reproduce by parthenogenesis, a feature which gives rise to an incredible variability between populations of the same species (Stoddart 1985).
The Australian and Asia members of this family are being intensively investigated by Dr M. Glaubrecht of the Museum für Naturkunde, Humboldt Universität, Berlin and his students. Some of the taxonomic decisions made below are based on unpublished work by Dr M. Glaubrecht and used with his permission.
Thiariids are of biological and economic importance as they act as intermediate hosts for a variety of tremode parasites of fish, domesticated animals and humans (lung fluke).
General References
Benthem Jutting, W.S.S. van 1956. Systematic studies on the non-marine Mollusca of the Indo-Australian Archipelago. V. Critical revision of the Javanese freshwater gastropods. Treubia 23: 259-477
Benthem Jutting, W.S.S. van 1963. Non-marine Mollusca of West New Guinea. Part I. Mollusca from fresh and brackish waters. Nova Guinea (Zoologie) 20: 409-521
Glaubrecht, M. 1999. Systematics and evolution of viviparity in tropical freshwater gastropods (Cerithioidea: Thiaridae s.l.). Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg 203: 91-96
Glaubrecht, M. 2000. A look back in time: toward an historical biogeography as synthesis of systematic and geologic patterns outlined with limnic gastropods. Zoology: Analysis of Complex Systems 102: 127-147
Glaubrecht, M., Brinkmann, N. & Pöppe, J. 2009. Diversity and disparity 'down under': Systematics, biogeography and reproductive modes of the 'marsupial' freshwater Thiaridae (Caenogastropoda, Cerithioidea) in Australia. Zoosystematics and Evolution 85(2): 199-275 [202-206]
Glaubrecht, M. & Rintelen, T.v. 2003. Systematics, molecular genetics and historical zoogeography of the vivaparous freshwater gastropod Pseudopotamis (Cerithioidea, Pachychilidae): a relic on the Torres Strait Islands, Australia. Zoologica Scripta 32(5): 415-435
Healy, J.M. & Wells, F.E. 1998. Family Thiaridae. pp. 727-729 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.
Lydeard, C., Holznagel, W.E., Glaubrecht, M. & Ponder, W.F. 2002. Molecular phylogeny of a circum-global, diverse gastropod superfamily (Cerithioidea: Mollusca: Caenogastropoda); pushing the deepest phylogenetic limits of mitochondrial LSU rDNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 22: 399-406
Morrison, J.P.E. 1954. The Relationship of Old and New World Melanians. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 103: 357-394
Stoddart, J.A. 1985. Analysis of species lineages of some Australian thiarids (Thiaridae, Prosobranchia, Gastropoda) using the evolutionary species concept. Journal of the Malacological Society of Australia 7: 7-16
History of changes
| Published | As part of group | Action Date | Action Type | Compiler(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10-Feb-2015 | THIARIDAE | 04-Feb-2015 | MODIFIED | Dr Winston Ponder (AM) Mr Des Beechey (AM) Ms Anouk Mututantri (AM) |
| 12-Feb-2010 | (import) |