Brotia herculea, common name the giant tower cap snail, is a species of freshwater snail with an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusc in the family Pachychilidae.

Brotia herculea
Apertural view of a shell of Brotia herculea including operculum. Scale bar is 10 mm.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Family: Pachychilidae
Genus: Brotia
Species:
B. herculea
Binomial name
Brotia herculea
(Gould, 1846)
Synonyms[1][2][3]

Melania herculea Gould, 1846
Melanoides herculea H. Adams & A. Adams, 1854
Melania balteata Reeve, 1860
Melania gloriosa Anthony, 1865
Melania peguensis Hanley & Theobald, 1876
Melania reevei Brot, 1862
Melania reevei var. imbricata Hanley & Theobald, 1876
Melania reevei var. lanceolata Nevill, 1884
Melania reevei var. soliduscula Nevill, 1884
Melania tourannensis var. beddomeana Nevill, 1885
Melania tourannensis var. compacta Nevill, 1885

Description

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B. herculea has a taenioglossan radula.[4] Its shell is large and turreted. The presence of axial ribs is highly variable.[5]

Distribution

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This species occurs in Myanmar and Thailand.[2]

Human use

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It is a part of ornamental pet trade for freshwater aquaria.[6] It is considered low-risk for invasiveness.[7]

References

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  1. ^ a b Köhler, F.; Simonis, J. (2012). "Brotia herculea". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012: e.T184819A1754715. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2012-1.RLTS.T184819A1754715.en. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  2. ^ a b Köhler F. & Glaubrecht M. (2006). "A systematic revision of the Southeast Asian freshwater gastropod Brotia (Cerithioidea: Pachychilidae)". Malacologia 48: 159-251.
  3. ^ MolluscaBase (2018). Brotia herculea (Gould, 1846). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1057844 on 2018-09-11
  4. ^ Scheel, Carolin; Gorb, Stanislav N.; Glaubrecht, Matthias; Krings, Wencke (2020-10-21). "Not just scratching the surface: distinct radular motion patterns in Mollusca". Biology Open. 9 (10): bio055699. doi:10.1242/bio.055699. ISSN 2046-6390. PMC 7595699. PMID 32917764.
  5. ^ Köhler, Frank.; Köhler, Frank; Glaubrecht, Matthias (2006). "A systematic revision of the southeast Asian freshwater gastropod Brotia (Cerithioidea: Pachychilidae)". Malacologia. 48: 159–251. ISSN 0076-2997.
  6. ^ Ng, T. H., Tan, S. K., Wong, W. H., Meier, R., Chan, S. Y., Tan, H. H., & Yeo, D. C. (2016). "Molluscs for sale: assessment of freshwater gastropods and bivalves in the ornamental pet trade". PLoS ONE 11(8): e0161130. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0161130
  7. ^ Patoka, Jiří; Kopecký, Oldřich; Vrabec, Vladimír; Kalous, Lukáš (2017). "Aquarium molluscs as a case study in risk assessment of incidental freshwater fauna". Biological Invasions. 19 (7): 2039–2046. doi:10.1007/s10530-017-1412-6. ISSN 1387-3547. S2CID 254293059.