Classification

Domain: Eukarya

        Kingdom: Animalia

                Phylum: Mollusca

                        Class: Gastropoda

                                Subclass: Pulmonata
 
                                        Super Order: Stylommatophora
 
                                                Superfamily: Gastrodontoidea
 
                                                        Family: Euconulidae
 
                                                                Genus: Euconulus
 
                                                                          Specific name: alderi (Gray, 1840)
 
                                                                                    Species name: Euconulus alderi

        E. alderi are eukaryotic organisms meaning they have a true nucleus. Within the domain Eukarya, E. alderi belongs to the kingdom Animalia. Kingdom Animalia members are mutlicellular, heterotrophic organisms. Animalia members also digest their food outside of their cells and then absorb the nutrients. Within kingdom Animalia, E. alderi belongs to the phylum Mullusca. Characteristics of the phylum Mollusca are having an unsegmented, bilateral body with paired organs. Mollusks have a mantle that secrete a calcareous shell along with an open circulatory system and a radula for feeding. Classes within the phylum Mollusca are Cephalopoda, Gastropoda, PteropodaScaphopoda, and Conchifera.  E. alderi belongs to the largest class of Mollusca, Gastropoda. Gastropods under go adaptations such as torsion and coiling. E. alderi belong to the subclass Pulmonata. Pulmonata is made of terrestrial and fresh water snails that lack gills and have a mantle cavity transformed into a lung. E. alderi is a member of the Stylommatophora, a super order, who are either herbivorous or detritivorous but occasionally a grazing carnivore or active predator (Biology 2011).

        Once the taxonomy for E. alderi is broken down to the subclass it is not entirely clear how to define where the organism belongs because many people disagree on different clades and sub groupings. Therefore the clades or sub groupings have different names, but ultimately mean the same thing (Hickman 2009).