Bithyniidae | |
---|---|
Bithynia tentaculata | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Gastropoda |
Subclass: | Caenogastropoda |
Order: | Littorinimorpha |
Superfamily: | Rissooidea |
Family: | Bithyniidae Gray, 1857 |
Genera | |
See text | |
Diversity[1] | |
about 130 freshwater species |
Bithyniidae is a family of small freshwater snails with an operculum, aquatic gastropod molluscs in the clade Littorinimorpha.[2]
Their minute shell is often colored. They are characterized by a calcareous operculum, a lobe on the upper surface of the neck. The ctenidium, the respiratory gill-comb, is very broad. They have a ciliary feeding habit. The kidney has a large extension towards the mantle.[3]