22-451: Taphius ( H. Adams & A. Adams , 1855 ) Planorbis (Planorbina) (Haldeman, 1842) Biomphalaria is a genus of air-breathing freshwater snails , aquatic pulmonates belonging to the family Planorbidae , the ram's horn snails and their allies. Biomphalaria is the type genus of the tribe Biomphalariini . Both Planorbis and Taphius are synonyms for Biomphalaria . The shell of this species, like all planorbids
44-481: A little concave; umbilicus large, regularly and deeply concave, exhibiting all the volutions to the summit; aperture declining, remarkably oblique with respect to the transverse diameter. Breadth nearly nine-tenths of an inch. Unfortunately Say listed an incorrect type locality: North Carolina . The shell was probably actually from the West Indian island of Guadeloupe . The shell of animals from natural habitats
66-466: A long time when removed from their freshwater habitat. Of the 34 Biomphalaria species, 4 ( Biomphalaria glabrata , Biomphalaria pfeifferi , Biomphalaria straminea , and Biomphalaria tenagophila ) have recently expanded their native ranges. They have been introduced to areas where other Biomphalaria species are endemic (e.g., Congo and Egypt) or to subtropical zones that have no frost period (Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Hong Kong). All species in
88-414: A useful model system for investigating the intimate interactions between host and parasite. There is a great deal of information available about this snail, because it has been, and continues to be, under intensive study by many malacologists , parasitologists and other researchers, on account of its medical significance. The shell of this species, like all planorbids, is sinistral in coiling, but it
110-552: Is a small genome size among gastropods. Sequencing of the whole genome was approved as a priority by National Human Genome Research Institute in August 2004, Its participants also included the " Biomphalaria glabrata Genome Initiative" and the Genome Center at Washington University in St. Louis . The complete genome was sequenced in 2017. The chromosomes in this snail are small, and
132-417: Is an architect hired by HM Customs . This article about a British zoologist is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Biomphalaria glabrata Biomphalaria glabrata is a species of air-breathing freshwater snail , an aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Planorbidae, the ram 's horn snails . Biomphalaria glabrata is an intermediate snail host for
154-535: Is carried upside down, and thus it appears to be dextral . Biomphalaria glabrata is a Neotropical species. Its native distribution includes the Caribbean : Puerto Rico , Dominican Republic , Saint Lucia , Haiti (first report in 1891), Martinique , Guadeloupe , Antigua , Vieques , Saint Martin , Saint Kitts , Curaçao , Dominica (it was probably replaced by other Biomphalaria species in Dominica or it
176-529: Is found primarily in tropical areas, infects mammals (including humans) via contact with water that contains schistosome larvae (cercariae) which have previously been released from the snail. Infection occurs via penetration of cercariae through the skin. Eighteen species of Biomphalaria are intermediate hosts for Schistosoma mansoni ; seven species of the genus have not been tested for this susceptibility and nine species are resistant. Altogether about 30 species of parasites from Africa and at least 20 species from
198-630: Is left coiling (sinistral), but is carried upside down and thus appears to be right coiling (dextral). There are a suspected 35 extant species in the genus Biomphalaria in total (21 American species and 14 Old World species). However, there are a large number of invalid taxa within the Biomphalaria literature, which is likely the result of several (if not all) species of Biomphalaria being subject to various sources of intraspecific variation such as ecophenotypic variation and indeterminate shell growth. This intraspecific variation can make two individuals of
220-405: Is planispiral, in other words coiled flat like a rope, and the spire of the shell is sunken. Also, like all planorbids, this species has a sinistral shell , in other words, the coiling of the shell is left-handed. However, like all the snails in the subfamily Planobinae, this snail carries its coiled shell upside down, and thus the shell appears to be dextral in coiling. In other families of snails
242-502: Is usually olivaceous ( olive drab ) in color. The width of the shell of adults snails is 6–10 mm. An adult shell consist of aragonite and sometimes there is also under 1.5% of vaterite especially near the margin of the shell. The anatomy of the mantle cavity is described in Sullivan et al. (1974) and Jurberg et al. (1997). The genome length is estimated as about 929,10 Mb (millions of base pairs ; 0.95 ± 0.01 pg), which
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#1733106553984264-608: The Neotropics are known to parasitize Biomphalaria . This article incorporates public domain text from the Majoros et al. reference. [REDACTED] Media related to Biomphalaria at Wikimedia Commons Henry Adams (zoologist) Henry Adams (1813–1877) was an English naturalist and conchologist . With his brother Arthur Adams , also a noted conchologist, he wrote The genera of recent Mollusca: arranged according to their organization three volumes, 1858. His father
286-1366: The haploid number of chromosomes is 18. A complete genome sequence from the mitochondria of this species has been available since 2004: the mitochondrial genome sequence has 13670 nucleotides . The ancestor of Biomphalaria glabrata colonized Africa, and speciated into all of the African Biomphalaria species. A cladogram showing phylogenic relations of species in the genus Biomphalaria : Biomphalaria stanleyi Biomphalaria pfeifferi Biomphalaria camerunensis Biomphalaria sudanica Biomphalaria choanomphala Biomphalaria alexandrina Biomphalaria smithi Biomphalaria glabrata Biomphalaria kuhniana Biomphalaria straminea Biomphalaria straminea Biomphalaria intermedia Biomphalaria amazonica Biomphalaria sp. Biomphalaria tenagophila Biomphalaria occidentalis Biomphalaria prona Biomphalaria andecola Biomphalaria sp. (? Biomphalaria havanensis ) Biomphalaria sp. (? Biomphalaria havanensis ) Biomphalaria temascalensis Biomphalaria obstructa Biomphalaria helophila Biomphalaria peregrina Biomphalaria schrammi Biomphalaria glabrata inhabits small streams, ponds and marshes. These snails can survive in aestivation for
308-759: The African Biomphalaria species have low levels of genetic diversity, which is likely the result of their relatively recent evolutionary history. The origin of the genus Biomphalaria is American. The ancestor of Biomphalaria glabrata colonized Africa 2.3–4.5 or 2-5 millions years ago and speciated into all the African Biomphalaria species. Natural populations of these snails are usually found in tropical standing water or freshwater in South America and Africa , but they also reach 30° latitude in subtropical areas. Many species of these red-blooded planorbid snails (Gastropoda: Basommatophora) are able to survive
330-524: The USA. This genus of snails is medically important, because the snails can carry a parasite of humans which represents a serious disease risk: the snails serve as an intermediate host ( vector ) for the human parasitic blood fluke , Schistosoma mansoni , that infects about 83 million people. The human disease schistosomiasis (aka snail fever) caused by all Schistosoma species (transmitted also by other snails) infects 200 million people. The fluke, which
352-447: The genus Biomphalaria except of native Biomphalaria obstructa has not yet become established in the US, but they are considered to represent a potentially serious threat as a pest , an invasive species which could negatively affect agriculture, natural ecosystems, human health or commerce. Therefore, it has been suggested that this species be given top national quarantine significance in
374-861: The phylogenic relationships of both New World (16) and Old World (7) species: Biomphalaria stanleyi Biomphalaria pfeifferi Biomphalaria camerunensis Biomphalaria sudanica Biomphalaria choanomphala Biomphalaria alexandrina Biomphalaria smithi Biomphalaria glabrata Biomphalaria kuhniana Biomphalaria straminea Biomphalaria straminea Biomphalaria intermedia Biomphalaria amazonica Biomphalaria sp. Biomphalaria tenagophila Biomphalaria occidentalis Biomphalaria prona Biomphalaria andecola Biomphalaria sp. (? Biomphalaria havanensis ) Biomphalaria sp. (? Biomphalaria havanensis ) Biomphalaria temascalensis Biomphalaria obstructa Biomphalaria helophila Biomphalaria peregrina Biomphalaria schrammi The topology
396-590: The same species appear as two taxonomically distinct entities when identified using only morphological identification methods. New World ( South American ) species include: Old World ( Africa , Madagascar and the Middle East ) species include: Confirmed species using molecular identification methods: There is one known hybrid Biomphalaria glabrata × Biomphalaria alexandrina from Egypt. Suspected species identified using morphological methods: A cladogram created from mitochondrial and nuclear DNA showing
418-430: The spire is situated on top of the shell, here what shows on top of the shell is in fact the umbilicus . Biomphalaria glabrata was discovered and described under the name Planorbis glabratus by American naturalist Thomas Say in 1818. Say's type description reads as follows: Shell sinistral; whorls about five, glabrous or obsoletely rugose, polished, destitute of any appearance of carina; spire perfectly regular,
440-467: The trematode Schistosoma mansoni , which is one of the main schistosomes that infect humans. This snail is a medically important pest , because of transferring the disease intestinal schistosomiasis , the most widespread of all types of schistosomiasis . The parasite Schistosoma mansoni (which these snails and other Biomphalaria snails carry) infects about 83.31 million people worldwide. Biomphalaria glabrata / Schistosoma mansoni provides
462-414: Was consistent with the proposed Neotropical origins of the genus, with the oldest Biomphalaria fossils being dated from approximately 60 million years ago. However, further analysis of the African Biomphalaria species found only B. camerunensis and B. pfeifferi were the only definitive African species, with the remain species being a part of (or a sister taxa to) the "Nilotic species complex": All of
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#1733106553984484-532: Was eradicated), Montserrat and in South America: Venezuela , Suriname , French Guiana and Brazil . This species has recently expanded its native range, but there is reduced its abundance in the Caribbean, because of competition with non-indigenous species and environmental change. It inhabits new localities in the time of flooding . Like all planorbids, the shell of Biomphalaria glabrata
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