Biomphalaria tenagophila

Biomphalaria tenagophila
Apical, apertural and umbilical views of the shell of Biomphalaria tenagophila. Scale bar is 3 mm.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Superorder: Hygrophila
Family: Planorbidae
Genus: Biomphalaria
Species:
B. tenagophila
Binomial name
Biomphalaria tenagophila
(Orbigny, 1835)[1]
Synonyms
  • Planorbis tenagophilus Orbigny, 1835
  • Taphius tenagophilus (Orbigny, 1835)
  • Australorbis tenagophilus (Orbigny, 1835)
  • Planorbis nigricans
  • Australorbis nigricans (Spix, 1827)[2]

Biomphalaria tenagophila is a species of air-breathing freshwater snail, an aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Planorbidae, the ram's horn snails.

This species is medically important pest,[3] because of transferring the disease intestinal schistosomiasis. (Intestinal schistosomiasis is the most widespread of all types of schistosomiasis).

The parasite Schistosoma mansoni, which Biomphalaria snails carry, infects about 83.31 million people worldwide.[4]

The shell of this species, like all planorbids is sinistral in coiling, but is carried upside down and thus appears to be dextral.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Orbigny was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Spix J. B. & Wagner J. A. (1827) Testacea Fluviatilia Brasiliensis. vi. + 36 pp., 29 tab., typ. C, Wolf, Monachii.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Pointier2005 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Crompton, D. W. (1999). "How much human helminthiasis is there in the world?" (PDF). The Journal of Parasitology. 85 (3): 397–403. doi:10.2307/3285768. JSTOR 3285768. PMID 10386428. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-02-23.