Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Spiralia
Cladus: Lophotrochozoa
Phylum: Mollusca
Classis: Gastropoda
Subclassis: Heterobranchia
Infraclassis: Euthyneura
Cohors: Tectipleura
Subcohors: Panpulmonata
Superordo: Eupulmonata
Ordo: Stylommatophora
Subordo: Helicina
Infraordo: Limacoidei
Superfamilia: Helicarionoidea
Familia: Ariophantidae
Genus: Indrella
Species:
Name
Indrella
Primary references
Links
BHL bibliography
Indrella – Taxon details on Encyclopedia of Life (EOL).
Global Biodiversity Information Facility. 2019. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset. Taxon: Indrella.
ION
Nomenclator Zoologicus
Indrella is a monotypic genus containing the single species Indrella ampulla, a tropical terrestrial air-breathing gastropod mollusk in the family Ariophantidae. It is endemic to the Western Ghats of India.[1][2]
I. ampulla is the only species in the genus Indrella, However the animal color is polymorphic: The visible soft parts of the snail can be various colors, including red and pale yellow.
Shell description
A drawing of the shell of Indrella ampulla
The shell of this species is like that of Vitrina, imperforate, with few whorls and with a very large aperture.[3] The shell consists mainly of proteins with only small amounts of calcium carbonate.[1]
The shell is obliquely ovate and globose in shape and very thin. Half the thickness consists of epidermis, marked throughout with plicate line of growth, crossed by faint impressed spiral lines, and on the last whorl by shallow irregular furrows. The color of the shell is brownish olive, sometimes darker brown. Spire is small, convex and obtuse. The number of whorls is 3 and a half, rapidly increasing, the last much larger, rounded at the periphery and beneath. The aperture is very large, oblique, roundly oval, the same colour within as without, but smooth and glossy. The peristome is thin, membranaceous, columellar margin much curved inwards.[3]
The width of the shell is 38–63 mm. The height is 30 mm. The width of the aperture is 32 mm and the height of aperture is 30 mm.[3]
Anatomy
The external soft parts are similar to those of Ariophanta, but larger, and not fully retractile within the shell. The mucous pore is of moderate size, there is no distinct overhanging lobe or a small one. The sole of the foot is undivided and very smooth. There are no shell-lobes. The dorsal lobes are well developed, the left divided into an anterior and a posterior part by a deep sinus. Kalc-sac small, receiving the vas deferens; retractor muscle attached to long straight caecum given off at the junction of the flagellum of the male organ. The spermatheca is oval, very short, on a short stem. The amatorial organ (the dart-sac) is stout and long.[3]
Radula
The jaw is straight, with a slight convexity on the cutting-edge and no median projection. The radula is broad, with about 100 rows of teeth: 145 .17 .1 .17 .145; median tooth and the 17 on each side (admedians) long, broadly pointed, straight-sided, lateral cusps indistinct; laterals curved, aculeate, outer laterals bicuspid.[3]
Color of the soft parts
"The animal, as represented in a drawing for which I am indebted to Sir Walter Elliot, is greenish yellow, but according to Col. Beddome it is black. It probably varies."[3]
The color of soft parts has great color diversity, (color polymorphism)[1] including white, cream, pale yellow, orange, red and black.
Distribution
This species occurs in the Western Ghats of India, specifically on the wetter western slopes of the Wynaad, Nilgiri, and Anaimalai Hills, at moderate elevations (3000 ft).[3]
Habitat
This species lives in wet woodland, i.e. tropical rainforest.[1]
Ecology
Indrella ampulla feeding on a large fungi, at Parambikulam Tiger Reserve, Anamalai hills, Southern Western Ghats, India
I. ampulla is largely terrestrial seen on the forest floor occasionally see crossing the forest roads. Although it is a terrestrial snail also known to be partly arboreal.[4] This species is reported to be submerged underwater for about 30 minutes while upper tentacles occasionally breaking the water surface[5]
Colonel Richard Henry Beddome of the British Indian forest service found this snail feeding on large fungi.[3]
References
The article incorporates public domain text from the reference.[3]
2007. Tropical Land Snail Diversity: South and Southeast Asia. The Natural History Museum, London. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
Aravind N. A., Rajshekhar K. P. & Madhaystha N. A. Patterns of Land Snail Distribution in the Western Ghats Archived 25 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 1 March 2009.
Blanford W. T. & Godwin-Austen H. H. 1908. The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Mollusca. Testacellidae and Zonitidae. Taylor & Francis, London, page 48–50.
Madhyastha N. A., Mavinkuruve R. G., Shanbhag, S. P. 2004. Land snails of Western Ghats. ENVIS Bulletin: Wildlife and Protected Areas, Conservation of Rainforest in India 4: 143–151.
Leyland, A., Rao, N. M., Shilpe, R., and Menzies, R. K. (2022). First record of aquatic behaviour in an endemic terrestrial snail Indrella ampulla (Benson, 1850) (Gastropoda: Helicarionoidea: Ariophantidae). Folia Malacologica, 1(30), pp.60-63. https://doi.org/10.12657/folmal.030.006
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/"
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
