Thiaridae

Spiny marsh snail Thiara amarula, copyright Joop Trausel and Frans Slieker.

Belongs within: Cerithiimorpha.

The Thiaridae are a cosmopolitan family of freshwater caenogastropods. In the past, pretty much all lake-dwelling cerithioids have been treated as Thiaridae (or as Melaniidae, an older but invalid name for the same family) but this larger Thiaridae is now regarded as polyphyletic. Similarly, many unrelated freshwater gastropods with high-spired shells have historically been included in the genus Melania, an objective junior synonym of the genus Thiara.

<==Thiaridae [Melaniidae]
    |--Stomatopsis Stache 1871 BR05 [Stomatopsidae, Stomatopsinae BR17]
    |    `--*S. cosinensis Stache 1871 BR17
    `--Thiarinae BR17
         |--Melanoides BR17
         `--Thiara Röding 1798 BR05 (see below for synonymy)
              |  i. s.: ‘Melania’ abbreviata Defrance 1823 F27
              |         ‘Melania’ abendanoni B50
              |         ‘Melania’ bulbosa C64
              |         ‘Melania’ corporosa [=M. (Striatella) corporosa] PB27
              |         ‘Melania’ decollata Reeve 1859 PB27
              |         ‘Melania’ ebenina PB27
              |         ‘Melania’ exigua C64
              |         ‘Melania’ fasciolata F66
              |         ‘Melania’ ferrea Reeve 1859 PB27
              |         ‘Melania’ gemmifera B50
              |         ‘Melania’ hongkongensis PB27
              |         ‘Melania’ insulaesacrae B50
              |         ‘Melania’ lalemae B50
              |         ‘Melania’ lateritia F66
              |         ‘Melania’ mahalonensis B50
              |         ‘Melania’ mahalonica B50
              |         ‘Melania’ masapensis B50
              |         ‘Melania’ maurula Reeve 1859 PB27
              |         ‘Melania’ menkeana C64
              |         ‘Melania’ neglecta Anthony 1854 BC01
              |         ‘Melania’ newberryi C64
              |         ‘Melania’ nigrina Lea 1856 C64
              |         ‘Melania’ occata C64
              |         ‘Melania’ palicolarum B50
              |         ‘Melania’ pallidula Reeve 1860 [=M. pallens] PB27
              |         ‘Melania’ patriarchalis B50
              |         ‘Melania’ phlebotomum Reeve 1859 PB27
              |         ‘Melania’ plicifera [incl. M. silicula] C64
              |         ‘Melania’ sarasinorum B50
              |         ‘Melania’ scipio [incl. M. buschiana] C64
              |         ‘Melania’ semicancellata PB27
              |         ‘Melania’ shastaensis Lea 1856 [incl. M. shortaensis] C64
              |         ‘Melania’ tominangensis B50
              |         ‘Melania’ towutensis B50
              |         ‘Melania’ towutica B50
              |         ‘Melania’ wahlamatensis C64
              |         ‘Melania’ warderiana C64
              |--*T. (Thiara) amarula (Linnaeus 1758) BR17 (see below for synonymy)
              |    |--T. a. amarula PB27
              |    `--‘Melania’ a. coacta [incl. M. crenularis v. Martens 1860, Tiara vouamica Bourguignat 1889] PB27
              `--‘Melania’ (Tarebia) lirata Benson 1836 [incl. M. flavida, M. semigranosa] TC89

Thiaridae incertae sedis:
  Goniobasis Lea 1862 W77
    |--G. depygis W79
    |--G. laqueta W78
    |--G. livescens W79
    |--G. milesii W79
    |--G. nebrascensis Meek & Hayden 1856 W77
    |--G. proxima D84
    |--G. pulchella W79
    |--G. tenera (Hall 1845) [=Cerithium tenerum] W77
    |--G. tenuicarinata (Meek & Hayden 1857) [=Melania tenuicarinata] W77
    `--G. virginica W79
  Carbonispira Yen 1949 TTE93, KC60
    `--*C. scotica Yen 1949 KC60
  Horea Bourguignat 1888 PB27
    `--‘Melania’ tanganyicensis Smith 1880 [incl. *Horea tanganikana Bourguignat 1888] PB27
  *Antimelania variabilis [=Melania variabilis] PB27
  Juramelanoides Bandel 1991 B91
    `--*J. villersense (de Loriol 1865) [=Cerithium villersense] B91
  Lavansia Bandel 1991 B91
    `--*L. mojonia Bandel 1991 B91

Thiara Röding 1798 BR05 [=Amarula Sowerby 1842 PB27, Hydrognoma Gistel 1848 PB27, Lithoparches Gistel 1848 PB27, Melacantha Swainson 1840 PB27, Melania Lamarck 1799 BR05, Melanidia Rafinesque 1815 PB27, Spirilla Humph. in Gray 1847 PB27, Tiara Hermannsen 1849 PB27; incl. Melas Denys de Montfort 1810 PB27; Melaniacea, Melaniana, Melanianae, Thiareae, Thiarinae, Tiarinae] BR05

*Thiara (Thiara) amarula (Linnaeus 1758) BR17 [=Helix amarula BR17, *Amarula amarula PB27, *Hydrognoma amarula PB27, *Lithoparches amarula PB27, *Melacantha amarula PB27, *Melania amarula BR17, *Melanidia amarula PB27, *Spirilla amarula PB27, *Tiara amarula PB27; incl. *Melas melanus Denys de Montfort 1810 PB27]

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B91] Bandel, K. 1991. Gastropods from brackish and fresh water of the Jurassic–Cretaceous transition (a systematic reevaluation). Berliner Geowissenschaftliche Abhandlungen, Reihe A 134: 9–55.

[BR05] Bouchet, P., & J.-P. Rocroi. 2005. Classification and nomenclator of gastropod families. Malacologia 47 (1–2): 1–397.

[BR17] Bouchet, P., J.-P. Rocroi, B. Hausdorf, A. Kaim, Y. Kano, A. Nützel, P. Parkhaev, M. Schrödl & E. E. Strong. 2017. Revised classification, nomenclator and typification of gastropod and monoplacophoran families. Malacologia 61 (1–2): 1–526.

[BC01] Boyko, C. B., & J. R. Cordeiro. 2001. Catalog of Recent type specimens in the Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History. V. Mollusca, part 2 (class Gastropoda [exclusive of Opisthobranchia and Pulmonata], with supplements to Gastropoda [Opisthobranchia], and Bivalvia). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 262: 1–170.

[B50] Brooks, J. L. 1950. Speciation in ancient lakes (concluded). Quarterly Review of Biology 25: 131–176.

[C64] Carpenter, P. P. 1864. Supplementary report on the present state of our knowledge with regard to the Mollusca of the west coast of North America. Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science 33: 517–686.

[D84] Dillon, R. T., Jr. 1984. Geographic distance, environmental difference, and divergence between isolated populations. Systematic Zoology 33 (1): 69–82.

[F27] Finlay, H. J. 1927. New specific names for austral Mollusca. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 57: 488–533.

[F66] Fraser, L. 1866. Communication of a list of mollusks collected by R. Swinhoe, Esq., in Formosa. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 146.

[KC60] Knight, J. B., L. R. Cox, A. M. Keen, R. L. Batten, E. L. Yochelson & R. Robertson. 1960. Gastropoda: systematic descriptions. In: Moore, R. C. (ed.) Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology pt I. Mollusca 1: Mollusca—General Features, Scaphopoda, Amphineura, Monoplacophora, Gastropoda—General Features, Archaeogastropoda and some (mainly Paleozoic) Caenogastropoda and Opisthobranchia pp. I169–I331. Geological Society of America, and University of Kansas Press.

[PB27] Pilsbry, H. A., & J. Bequaert. 1927. The aquatic mollusks of the Belgian Congo, with a geographical and ecological account of Congo malacology. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 53 (2): 69–602, pls 10–77.

[TC89] Tapparone Canefri, T. 1889. Viaggio di Leonardo Fea in Birmania e regioni vicine. XVIII.—Molluschi terrestri e d’acqua dolce. Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova, Serie 2^a, 7: 295–359.

[TTE93] Tracey, S., J. A. Todd & D. H. Erwin. 1993. Mollusca: Gastropoda. In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 131–167. Chapman & Hall: London.

[W79] Walker, B. 1879. Catalogue of the shell-bearing Mollusca of Michigan. Journal of Conchology 2: 325–337.

[W78] West, D. L. 1978. Reproductive biology of Colus stimpsoni (Prosobranchia: Buccinidae). I. Male genital system. Veliger 20 (3): 266–273.

[W77] White, C. A. 1877. Report upon the invertebrate fossils collected in portions of Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, by parties of the expeditions of 1871, 1872, 1873, and 1874. U.S. Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian 4 (1): 1–219, pls 1–21.

Last updated: 18 May 2021.