Helix (gastropod)
Genus of gastropods / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Helix is a genus of large, air-breathing land snails native to the western Palaearctic and characterized by a globular shell.[1][2]
Helix | |
---|---|
Helix pomatia | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Gastropoda |
Subclass: | Heterobranchia |
Order: | Stylommatophora |
Family: | Helicidae |
Subfamily: | Helicinae |
Tribe: | Helicini |
Genus: | Helix Linnaeus, 1758 |
Type species | |
Helix pomatia | |
Synonyms | |
see text |
It is the type genus of the family Helicidae, and one of the animal genera described by Carl Linnaeus[3] at the dawn of the zoological nomenclature.
Members of the genus first appeared in the fossil record during the Miocene.[4]
Well-known species include Helix pomatia (Roman snail, Burgundy snail, or edible snail) and Helix lucorum (Turkish snail). Cornu aspersum (garden snail), though externally similar and long classified as a member of Helix (as "Helix aspersa"), is not closely related to Helix[5][6] and belongs to a different tribe of Helicinae.[7]