Flat-coiled pond snails

Code KG099999

Class Gastropoda: Subclass Pulmonata: Order Basommatophora. Commonly known as Flat-coiled pond snails (though not all species are flat-coiled).

One of only two pulmonate families which carry an operculum (Amphibolidae is the other). Snails of this family possess an unusual single toothed radula and very simple gut. They feed on the tissues of freshly dead animals.

Glacidorbids (four Australian species in one genus, Glacidorbis ) are generally rare. They occur in mainly acidic mountain streams in south-east Australia, south-west Australia and Tasmania. At least one species is associated with ephemeral forest streams. The family is also represented by a species from southern Chile.

References:

Ponder, W.F. (1986) Glacidorbidae (Glacidorbidacea: Basommatophora), new family and superfamily of operculate freshwater gastropods. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, London 87 : 53-83.

Smith, B.J. (1996) Identification keys to the Families and Genera of Bivalve and Gastropod Molluscs found in Australian Inland Waters . Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology Identification Guide No. 6., Albury, NSW.