Classification

Domain: Eukarya
 
As Gary Kaiser so nicely explains in his microbiology webpage, members of this domain are Trepomonas sp picture permission granted by Encyclopedia of Lifemade up of eukaryotic cells. This means that the cells have membrane bound organelles. Some of those that belong to Eukarya are multicellular, though there are unicellular members as well, and eukaryotes tend to be larger in relative size than members of the Archaea and Bacteria Domains. Some eukaryotes have cell walls, though this is not a trait shared by all members. For the members that have a cell wall, the wall has no peptidoglycan, which is a macromolecule found in the cell walls of Bacteria (Kaiser, 2011).
 
 

 

Kingdom: Metazoa(Animalia)


The Metazoa members are multicellular and are made up of eukaryotic cells, as explained above. The cells group together and form tissues which are specialized and used for thea picture of the animal Peggy-sue, my cat. I took this picture organisms’ survival and daily function (Kingdom, 2003).  Most animals are able to move, are heterotrophic, meaning that they must consume their nutrients and are not able to make their own food via photosynthesis, and can respond to their environment due nerve nets (Metazoa, 2012). Animals have aerobic metabolism which means they use oxygen in glycolysis, the Krebs’s cycle, and electron transfer system to create ATP energy, which is then used as the energy source for their bodily functions (Metazoa, 2012).  Sexual reproduction is characteristic of the Animalia where a male donates half of his genome via sperm from the sexual organs called testes and the female contributes her half via eggs from the sexual organs called ovaries to create offspring (Kingdom, 2003).
 
 Phylum: Mollusca
 

As explained by Hickman, Mollusca is a phylum that includes a diverse amount of marine and land species that play an important role in the world.  Molluscs are defined by their mantle cavity, development of a buccal mass, and the development of the radula.  At the same time, different species throughout mollusks have lost some of these features (Hickman, 2012).

 

 


Class: Gastropoda

Gastropods are a class of mollusks that includes species of snails, limpets, and slugs.  Many gastropods are important herbivores while others are specialized predators.  Gastropods have a wide range of structural complexity that is reflected in their diverse modes of reproduction (Barry 1977).  Class Gastropoda is filled with diversity in species, and many of which can live in a variety of environments.
 

 

Order: Stylommatophora

Stylommatophora is an order of the larger class Gastropoda.  Stylommatophora is considered a clade of pulmonates, and includes a large group of air-breathing land snails and slugs.  Snails in Stylommatophora have lost their gills, and they developed an air-breathing organ with a  lung on its roof (Purchon 1968).  The two strong synapomorphies of Stylommatophora are a long pedal gland placed beneath a membrane and retractile tentacles (Dayrat and Tillier 2010).  Their eyes can be found on the tips of two long tentacles.
 
Family: Polygyridae


Polygyridae is a family of air-breathing land snails that is part of the order Stylommmatophora.  Polygyridae are characterized by their uniqueness of not using a love dart for mating compared to others in the order Stylommatophora that use this as part of their mating process (Davison et al., 2005).

 

Genus: Fumonelix

Fumonelix is a genus that falls into the family Polygyridae.  The species Fumonelix orestes falls into this genus and sometimes is referred to as the engraved covert (Encyclopedia of Life, 2012).
 
Species: Fumonelix orestes (Mesodon orestes)

mesos- "middle", odon - "tooth"

 

 

To find out where F. orestes lives, check out Habitat