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Home Kingdom Animalia Phylum Mollusca Class Gastropoda Subclass Prosobranchia

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2009/11/08 04:48:27.431 US/Eastern

By Phil Myers

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Mollusca

Class: Gastropoda

Subclass: Prosobranchia

Members of this Subclass

Prosobranchs are the largest subclass of gastropods. Most species are marine, but many freshwater species and a few terrestrial forms are known. Prosobranchs have an operculum (lacking in pulmonates), and most have a spirally coiled shell (in a few, the shell is cup-shaped or tubular). The head includes eyes that are located on tentacles. The mantle cavity is anteriorally directed and near the head.

Prosobranchs include such familiar gastropods as conchs, whelks, limpets, periwinkles, oyster borers, and coweries. They are divided into three Orders, Archaeogastropoda, Mesogastropoda, and Neogastropoda.

Source:

Hickman, C.P. and L. S. Roberts. 1994. Animal Diversity. Wm. C. Brown, Dubuque, IA.

Brusca, R. C., and G. J. Brusca. Invertebrates. 1990. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA.

Contributors

Phil Myers (author), Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan.

2009/11/08 04:48:27.537 US/Eastern

To cite this page: Myers, P. 2001. "Prosobranchia" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed November 09, 2009 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Prosobranchia.html.

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