Classification
The formal classification of the land snail, Allogona
profunda (Say), is as follows:
Domain: Eukarya
Kingdom: Animal
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Pulmonata
Suborder: Stylommatophora
Family: Polygyridae
Genus: Allogona
Species: Allogona profunda
Allogona profunda (Say) consists of the genus and
species name as well as the name of the authority followed in
parentheses. In this case, the man who named this snail is
Thomas Say, who is an early American conchologist. Initially he
placed this snail in the genus classification of Helix, but
later students placed it in the genus Allogona after
examining the snail’s internal anatomy. Zoologists place the
name of the authority in parentheses if the currently accepted
generic name is different from the original name given to the
snail (Leonard, 1959).
All of the snails of the genus Allogona are united by a
few common characteristics. The shells of each of the species
are umbilicate, have a reflected white peristome, and no more
than a single, low blunt, tooth. They also have some
similarities between their soft anatomies (Leonard, 1959).
This snail is also part of the family Polygyridae and is united
to this family by common anatomical and physiological
attributes. Shells are of little value when classifying
families, but all polygyrids have lense-shaped to globose shells
with a reflected lip on the peristome (Leonard, 1959).
The order to which Allogona profunda (Say) belongs is
Pulmonata. This order consists of snails that have a chamber in
the mantle that serves as a lung. The snails that developed this
chamber for breathing air can also be divided into two more
groups, one that has sessile eyes and the other that has eyes
borne on stalklike appendages. The group Basommatophora is the
group with sessile eyes and the group Stylommatophora is the one
with stalked eyes. In this case, Allogona profunda
(Say) is part of the suborder Stylommatophora (Leonard, 1959).
This snail is also placed in the class Gastropoda. In Latin,
Gastropoda literally translated means “stomach-foot”. It is a
member of this class because Allogona profunda (Say)
uses a broad creeping foot for locomotion and another feature
that connects this snail to this class is that snails in this
class usually have a single, generally spiraled shell. Also, all
animals in the class Gastropoda possess a mantle that secretes a
shell, and a modified foot (Leonard, 1959).
Gastropoda is one of five classes in the phylum Mollusca.
Additionally, Allogona profunda (Say) is an animal, so
it is placed in the Animal Kingdom, which distinguishes it from
plants and bacteria (Leonard, 1959).
Lastly, this snail is in the domain Eurkarya. Characteristics
that unite this snail to this domain are that it is
multi-cellular and each cell has many organelles. Also the
snails are much larger than any prokaryotes that are in the
domains Archaea and Bacteria.