Pomella (gastropod)

Pomella is a genus of freshwater snails, aquatic gastropod mollusks in the family Ampullariidae, the apple snails.

Pomella
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Gastropoda
(unranked):
clade Caenogastropoda
informal group Architaenioglossa
Superfamily:
Ampullarioidea
Family:
Ampullariidae
Genus:
Pomella

Gray, 1847[1]

As is the case in some other genera of apple snails, Pomella deposits eggs above the waterline in calcareous clutches. This protects the eggs against predation by fish and other aquatic inhabitants.

Species

Species within the genus Pomella include:

  • Pomella americanista (Ihering, 1919)
  • Pomella megastoma (G. B. Sowerby I, 1825)

Uruguay

The name of the country Uruguay perhaps ultimately comes from P. megastoma, or uruguá in the Guaraní language. The name of the Uruguay river, which gave its name to the country, comes from the Spanish settlers' rendering of the native name the inhabitants of the region used to designate it. This interpretation is considered possible because uruguás are abundant in the river[2]

References
  1. Hayes K. A., Cowie R. H. & Thiengo S. C. (2009). "A global phylogeny of apple snails: Gondwanan origin, generic relationships, and the influence of outgroup choice (Caenogastropoda: Ampullariidae)". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 98(1): 61-76. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.2009.01246.x.
  2. El País newspaper: Presentan tesis del nombre Uruguay Archived 2012-03-14 at the Wayback Machine, (in Spanish) Retrieved 21 November 2014.



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