Achatinidae Temporal range: Pleistocene–Recent^[1] PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓

Giant East African Snail, Achatina fulica
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
(unranked):	clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura clade Panpulmonata clade Eupulmonata clade Stylommatophora informal group Sigmurethra
Superfamily:	Achatinoidea
Family:	Achatinidae Swainson, 1840^[2]
Genera and species
See text.

Achatinidae (New Latin, from Greek "agate") is a family of medium to large sized tropical land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks from Africa. The family includes some 13 genera.

Well known species include Achatina achatina the Giant African Snail, and Achatina fulica the Giant East African Snail.

[edit] Distribution

The native distribution of Achatinidae is Africa south of the Sahara.^[1]

[edit] Anatomy

In this family, the number of haploid chromosomes lies between 26 and 30 (according to the values in this table).^[3]

The Achatinidae family is classified within the informal group Sigmurethra, itself belonging to the clade Stylommatophora within the clade Eupulmonata (according to taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005).^[4]

Achatininae Swainson, 1840 - synonyms: Urceidae Chaper, 1884; Ampullidae Winckworth, 1945
Callistoplepinae Mead, 1994
Limicolariinae Schileyko, 1999

Genera in the family Achatinidae include:

Achatininae

Callistoplepinae

Callistoplepa Ancey, 1888 - type genus of the subfamily Limicolariinae^[4]
- Callistoplepa graneri Thiele, 1811 - Congo
- Callistoplepa columna Müller, 1774 - São Tomé and Principe
- Callistoplepa leai Tryon, 1866 - São Tomé and Principe

Limicolariinae

subfamily ?

Archachatina Albers, 1850
Bruggenina Mead, 2004^[5] Type species by original designation Archachatina sandgroundi Bequaert, 1950
Burtoa Bourguignat, 1889
- Burtoa nilotica Pfeiffer, 1861 - Congo
Cochlitoma Férussac, 1821
Columna Perry, 1811
Lignus Gray, 1834
- Lignus alabaster Rang, 1831 - Guinea
- Lignus auripigmentum Reeve, 1848 - East Africa
- Lignus intertinctus Gould, 1843 - Liberia
- Lignus leai Pilsbry, 1933 - Liberia
- Lignus solimanus Morelet, 1848 - Cameroun
Lissachatina Bequaert, 1951
Metachatina Pilsbry, 1904
- Metachatina kraussi Pfeiffer, 1846
Perideriopis^{[citation
needed]}
- Perideriopis fallsensis Dupuis & Putzeys, 1900 - Congo
  - Perideriopis fallsensis pronuba Pilsbry, 1919 - Congo
- Perideriopis umbilicata Putzeys, 1898 - Congo
Pseudachatina Albers, 1850
- Perideriopis dennisoni Pfeiffer - Cameroun, Gabon
- Perideriopis downesii Sowerby, 1838 - Gabon
- Perideriopis wrighti Sowerby, 1853 - Guinea

^ ^a ^b "Family summary for Achatinidae". AnimalBase, last change 24-11-2007, accessed 3 August 2010
^ Swainson W. J. (1840). A treatise on malacology161: 334.
^ Barker G. M.: Gastropods on Land: Phylogeny, Diversity and Adaptive Morphology. in Barker G. M. (ed.): The biology of terrestrial molluscs. CABI Publishing, Oxon, UK, 2001, ISBN 0-85199-318-4. 1-146, cited pages: 139 and 142.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Bouchet P., Rocroi J.-P., Frýda J., Hausdorf B., Ponder W., Valdés Á. & Warén A. (2005). "Classification and nomenclator of gastropod families". Malacologia: International Journal of Malacology (Hackenheim, Germany: ConchBooks) 47 (1-2): 1–397. ISBN 3925919724. ISSN 0076-2997. http://www.archive.org/details/malacologia47122005inst.
^ Mead A. R. (2004). "Comparative reproductive anatomy in the South African giant land snails (Gastropoda: Pulmonata: Achatinidae)". Zoologische Mededelingen Leiden 78: 417-449.

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