Classification

Cipangopaludina chinensis

Latin:
pango - fasten, fix, drive in
paludi - swamp, marsh
chinensis - reference to China

Domain - Eukarya

The following information was obtained from the text Animal Diversity. This organism is classified in the domain Eukarya because it is made up of cells which contain membrane bound organelles and a membrane bound nucleus.

Kingdom - Animalia

This snail is placed in the kingdom Animalia because it is multi-cellular and heterotrophic, which means that it cannot make its own food.

Phylum - Mollusca

This organism is a soft-bodied (no internal skeleton) coelomate (body cavity lined with peritoneum) with a calcium carbonate shell. These characteristics place it in the phylum Mollusca.

Class – Gastropoda

Cipangopaludina chinensis is a gastropod because of a twisting of its body that occurs during development referred to as torsion. This event results in the opening for the anus positioned above the head.

Subclass – Prosobranchia

Members of the subclass Prosobranchia all have gills and a hard plate called an operculum which seals the entrance to their shells when they withdraw inside (Hickman, 2009).

Order - Architaenioglossa

Family - Viviparidae

This organism is ovoviviparous (see Reproduction) which places it in the family Viviparidae (USGS, 2009).

Genus – Cipangopaludina

This organism was classified at two different points, once into the genus Cipangopaludina and again into the genus Bellamya. Cipangopaludina was the earliest classification and will be used throughout this website.

Species – Cipangopaludina chinensis

Past classification - Bellamya chinensis / Cipangopaludina chinensis malleatus / Bellamya chinensis malleatus / Viviparus chinensis malleatus (USGS, 2009)

The above classification was obtained from Nature Serve (2011).

To see where C. chinensis lives check out habitat.

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