Zonites is a genus of mostly small, air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Zonitidae.Zonites, with the same type species
The genus Zonites, which includes 26 extant species, is distributed in the northeastern Mediterranean area and exhibits significant diversity and endemism.
Description The shell of species in this genus is more or less transparent, subdepressed and contains an umbilicus. The aperture is semilunar and usually lacks teeth. The outer lip is thin and sharp.
The animal is elongate and is able to retract completely within its shell. It has a more or less developed caudal mucous pit. The mantle lobes are small and not reflected on to the shell. The genital orifice is somewhat distant from the right tentacle. The jaw is marked by a median rostrum. The lateral teeth of the radula are bicuspidate, while the marginal teeth are sharp and narrowly unicuspidate.Tryon G. W. (1886) Manual of Conchology Second series: Pulmonata. volume II. Zonitidae.
Species Species within the genus Zonites include:"Species in genus Zonites". AnimalBase, accessed 22 June 2010. Zonites algirus (Linnaeus, 1758) - type species Zonites anaphiensis Riedel & Mylonas, 1981 Zonites astakidae Riedel, 1985 † Zonites beckerplateni Schütt, 1985 Zonites beydaglariensis A. Riedel, 1982 † Zonites boisteli Depéret, 1895 Zonites caricus (Roth, 1839) Zonites casius Martens, 1889 Zonites chloroticus (Pfeiffer, 1851) Zonites embolium Fuchs & Käufel, 1936 Zonites embolium elevatus Riedel & Mylonas, 1997 - extinct Zonites euboeicus Kobelt, 1878 Zonites festai Pollonera, 1916 Zonites goldfussi Westerlund, 1890 Zonites graecus Kobelt, 1876 Zonites humilis Riedel, 1982 Zonites invitus Riedel & Mylonas, 1995 Zonites kobelti Boettger, 1898 Zonites labiosus Westerlund, 1893 Zonites messenicus Zilch, 1965 Zonites nautarum Riedel & Mylonas, 1995 Zonites nikariae Pfeffer, 1930 Zonites nisyrius Riedel & Mylonas, 1997 Zonites oertzeni Martens, 1889 Zonites osmanicus Riedel, 1987 Zonites parnonensis Riedel, 1985 Zonites pergranulatus Kobelt, 1878 Zonites rhodius Martens, 1889 Zonites santoriniensis Riedel & Norris, 1987 - extinctFontaine B., Bouchet P., Van Achterberg K., Alonso-Zarazaga M. A., Araujo R. et al. (2007). "The European union’s 2010 target: Putting rare species in focus." Biological Conservation 139: 167-185. Table 2 on the page 173. . PDF. Zonites sariae Riedel, 1985 † Zonites siphnicus Fuchs & Käufel, 1936 - extinct Zonites smyrnensis (Roth, 1839)
In the course of time many species have been included in the genus Zonites that have become taxa inquirenda or synonyms that now belong to different other genera.
References
Bank, R. A. (2017). Classification of the Recent terrestrial Gastropoda of the World. Last update: July 16, 2017
External links
Montfort P. (Denys de). (1808-1810). Conchyliologie systématique et classification méthodique des coquilles. Paris: Schoell. Vol. 1 Hesse, P. (1910). Kritische Fragmente. VIII. Helix granulata Roth. IX. Das Genus Zonites Montf. Nachrichtsblatt der Deutschen Malakozoologischen Gesellschaft. 42(4): 165-169. Frankfurt am Main Held, F. (1837-1838). Notizen über die Weichthiere Bayerns. Isis (Oken), 30 (4): 303-309 (1837); 30 (12): 901-919 (1838). Leipzig Semper, C. (1870-1885). Reisen im Archipel der Philippinen, Theil 2. Wissenschaftliche Resultate. Band 3, Landmollusken. Wiesbaden: Kreidel.